nautilus telegraph october 2014

Volume 47 | Number 10 | October 2014 | £3.50 €3.70

Rise of the robotsCrewless ships are coming soon, an expert predicts21

Off the recordStudy shows why seafarers falsify rest hour records24-25

NL nieuwsTwee pagina’s met nieuws uit Nederland36-37

MLC ‘is making a real diff erence’Unions welcome evidence that inspections are starting to combat ships fl outing ‘bill of rights’

PThe introduction of the Maritime Labour Con-vention is making a big

difference for seafarers around the world, unions say. They have welcomed evidence that the port state control inspectors are now clamping down on ships contra-vening the requirements of the seafarers’ bill of rights.

One year after the MLC entered into force, Nautilus said it is pleased to see an increasing num-ber of ships now being detained for breaching the rules — and, in a case last month, being banned from one country’s ports.

The Liberian-fl agged contain-ership Vega Auriga was barred from entering Australian ports for three months on a ‘three strikes and you’re out’ policy. The ship had been detained on three occasions since last July by the Australian Maritime Safety Agency for defi ciencies related to the payment of crew wages, inad-equate living and working condi-tions, and poor maintenance. It was subsequently detained again upon arrival in New Zealand.

And last month a Panamanian-fl agged bulk carrier was detained in the port of Southampton with defi ciencies including invalid sea-farer employment agreements, as required by the MLC.

The Turkish-owned El Condor Pas was also found to be under-manned and to be operating with no lookout at night, with a seri-ous breakdown of International Safety Management Code imple-mentation onboard.

The 33,476dwt vessel had fallen foul of the current three-month concentrated port state control inspection campaign on hours of rest. Checks to verify the crew members onboard revealed that the third offi cer was recorded as an AB on the crew list.

However, the offi cer was not undertaking AB duties — and was instead standing the 8-12 and 20-24 watches, even though the ship’s records showed that the master was standing this watch.

Checks also found that a cadet was listed as an OS on the crew list,

and no other OSs were onboard — with the vessel under-manned by one AB and two OSs. And the sea-farer employment agreements were found to be invalid, as they had expired almost three weeks before the inspection. El Condor

Pas was cleared to sail three days after the detention when a further inspection showed that the defi -ciencies had been rectifi ed.

Nautilus International Council chairman Ulrich Jurgens, the port state control offi cer who detained

the 13-year-old ship, said he said he and his colleagues had found a total of 14 defi ciencies onboard and shortcomings including damage to an access ladder and the radio aerial, corrosion of the crane limit switch — plus, very

importantly, the inability of the crew to carry out a satisfactory fi re drill.

‘As a PSC inspector I have to work according to the rule of law,’ he pointed out. ‘My role is to ensure that visiting vessels com-ply with statutory provisions. The focus of the inspection is to ensure the ship is safe.

‘Identifying defects or even detaining a vessel also ensures that shipowners operate on a level playing fi eld and that compliant owners do not suffer a business disadvantage to the less compli-ant ones,’ he added. ‘The latter, however, also benefi t as inspec-tions help them to bring their vessel up to internationally recog-nised standards.’

El Condor Pas was not a wreck, Mr Jurgens stressed. ‘She just had operational defi ciencies which made the vessel unsafe and basi-cally unseaworthy. A missing life-boat or a hole in the hull are obvi-ous defi ciencies. However, there are others which are less visible but equally important.

‘In this case, the key issues were: the lack of compliance with SOLAS on safety manage-ment issues; the lack of compli-ance with STCW on manning and watchkeeping matters and, last but not least, a further lack of compliance with MLC on hours of rest and terms and conditions,’ he explained. ‘These present both safety, social and economic risks and disadvantages to seafarers, shipowners and the public.’

Nautilus general secretary Mark Dickinson commented: ‘It is very reassuring to see the MLC starting to bite and ships being stopped because of crew-related defi ciencies.

‘Owners who compete on the back of exploitation not only pre-sent unfair competition, but also unsafe competition and we hope that cases such as this will send a strong message to the industry that this is no longer tolerated.’

gITF urges more support for MLC — page 3; Australia bans ‘serial off ender’ — page 7.

InsideFRecommended?Industry debates whether young people should be encouraged to go to sea — page 19

FTechnical termsExperts look at ways to improve the wording of tech manuals onboard — pages 26-27

FWater worksOperator tells of struggle to make the most of UK’s inland waterways — page 29

The Panamanian-fl agged bulker El Condor Pas under detention in Southampton

Union warns minister on cuts at MCA F

Nautilus has written to the UK shipping minister to protest

about the impact of cuts at the Maritime & Coastguard Agency, after an investigation into a grounding in the Channel revealed that the vessel traffi c services offi cer on duty at the time was unsupervised and unqualifi ed for the role.

The investigation report points to ‘chronic manpower shortages’ within Dover Coastguard and highlights evidence of routine under-manning at the Channel Navigation Information Service.

Nautilus general secretary Mark Dickinson has told the shipping minister that the fi ndings are of ‘disturbing’ and urged him to ensure that the problems are addressed and that the MCA receives the resources required to properly discharge its safety-related responsibilities.

gFull report — page 48.

A defective access ladder and crane limit switch corrosion and damage Pictures: Donald Donaldson

01_front.indd 1 24/09/2014 15:58

‘Seafarers deliver: deliver for seafarers!’

FTUC general secretary Frances O’Grady told Congress delegates

that next year’s UK general election presented voters with a fundamental choice about the kind of country they wanted Britain to be.

‘Are we going to settle for a nastier and poorer Britain?’ she asked. ‘A Downton Abbey-style society, in which the living standards of the vast majority are sacrifi ced to protect the high living of the well to do?

‘Or are we going to seize our

opportunity, and build a new and fair economy that provides the people of this country with good, skilled, secure jobs?’

Ms O’Grady said that with the economy recovering, it is time for the proceeds of growth to be shared more fairly. But, she warned, the current reality is that too many jobs are low paid and insecure.

The TUC leader also highlighted the injustice of the new charges for employment tribunal claims.

Unanimous support for Nautilus motion on seafarers’ working conditions

TUC urged to combat ‘race to the bottom’

FNautilus senior national organiser Ronnie Cunningham

got one of the few laughs to be had during the UK TUC conference when he told the president that he had a banana in his pocket.

Mr Cunningham brandished the fruit in support of a motion calling for improved safety legislation and full employment rights for seafarers in UK waters. He said it highlighted the facts that 95% of goods in UK supermarkets, including bananas, are delivered by seafarers.

‘Shipping is an essential industry for an island nation like ours,’ he pointed out. ‘But successive governments have been happy to let the British Merchant Navy sink into almost terminal decline.

‘British seafarers are now an endangered marine species, one-

third the number of 25 years ago and forecast to fall by another 30% within the next decade and a half.’

Mr Cunningham added that

the centenary of the First World War should remind everyone how seafarers kept the country afl oat during confl ict. ‘Seafarers have

delivered, time and again, for Britain,’ he concluded. ‘Let’s deliver for seafarers.’

Nautilus was supporting a motion from the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) calling for UK maritime and off shore workers to be protected by UK employment and working time legislation.

RMT national secretary Steve Todd said everybody should be concerned about the decline in the number of UK seafarers, despite a three-fold increase in the number of ships on the UK register.

‘The fl ag is nothing but a cloak of respectability,’ he said. ‘Owners are being seduced onto the fl ag with tax concessions worth £1.5bn without any creation of jobs for ratings and few for offi cers.’

PThe battle for workers’ rights ‘should not end on the beach’, Nautilus

Council member Captain Nor-man Martin told delegates at the UK TUC’s annual conference.

He was moving the Union’s motion on ferry standards —which was unanimously agreed by the meeting — calling for the TUC to support the campaign for the UK government to act urgently to protect standards on ships operating services in and out of British ports.

The motion highlighted the evidence showing signifi cant lev-els of substandard pay and condi-tions for many seafarers serving on ferries operating in and out of British ports.

‘When I fi rst set sail as a young cadet, the British-fl agged fl eet accounted for 14% of world ton-nage. Today it’s not even 2%,’ said Capt Martin, as he proposed the motion.

‘When I joined the Merchant Navy, I was one of 140,000 British seafarers. Today, I’m one of fewer than 30,000. And there’s not many coming through to replace people like me — even the govern-ment’s own fi gures forecast that seafarer numbers will slump by a

further 30% by the end of the next decade.’

He told delegates that the rea-sons for this slump were clear, as just a few miles from the confer-ence venue there were ships with workers employed on Eastern European pay rates.

‘What’s worse,’ he added, ‘we have had to fi ght attempts by companies running services across the Irish Sea to cut our

members’ pay and conditions to compete with them.’

Capt Martin told congress that the ferry sector is one of the last bastions of jobs for British seafar-ers and that it is vital to protect it from a race to the bottom on employment standards.

‘Companies simply shouldn’t be allowed to import interna-tional pay rates into national ship-ping services,’ he added. ‘And ferry

fi rms running regular services in and out of UK ports should not be allowed to dodge the national minimum wage.

‘There should be no room for social dumping at sea,’ he con-cluded. ‘Please support us in the fi ght against the ships of shame, and the shoddy practices that threaten this country’s long and proud maritime history.’

The motion was supported by the RMT union, which has been campaigning alongside Nautilus to persuade the government to extend the national minimum wage and employment rights to seafarers on UK ships and ships in UK waters.

‘The race to the bottom is already well under way,’ said RMT national secretary Steve Todd. ‘Some ferry companies are exploiting their seafarers with pay as low as £2.60 an hour. These companies should not be allowed to tender for services which are publically funded and supported.

‘It’s not rocket science,’ he con-cluded. ‘The legislation is already in place to enforce the national minimum wage and its require-ments on working limits. All it needs is the political will to use the legislation.’

Nautilus stays on TUC Council

FDelegates at this year’s UK TUC conference in Liverpool

unanimously supported a Nautilus call to reverse the decline of British shipping and to protect the merchant fl eet’s safety record.

The Congress reaffi rmed its opposition to the spending cuts imposed at the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) and noted the detrimental eff ects that reduced resources and staffi ng are having on shipping safety.

Assistant general secretary Mike Jess got a round of applause when he told the audience it was no longer a case of Britannia rules the waves, ‘Not these days,’ he said. ‘I’m afraid it’s more a case of Britannia waives the rules’.

Mr Jess warned that the country’s long and proud maritime tradition was heading for the rocks, with the government intent on turning the UK ship register into a fl ag of convenience.

‘The MCA is facing a double whammy of budget cutbacks and political pressure to bend to the demands of shipowners,’ he said. ‘Even worse are the Agency’s increasingly desperate attempts to do away with gold-plated regulatory requirements for British ships and

to take us down to international minimum levels.

‘The world doesn’t need another shoddy, shady, fl ag of convenience — there are too many of them already,’ he added. ‘We need a ship register that continues to uphold the long and proud traditions of the red ensign — a quality fl ag that is determined to attract operators who want to run their ships properly.’

The motion was supported by Tom James, of public sector union Prospect, who told the conference that pay for marine surveyors has fallen so far behind the UK market rate that ‘at-risk’ vessels might not be inspected.

‘If there is no long-term resolution to pay — and, in particular, out-of-hours payments — the MCA may well fi nd itself unable to discharge its responsibilities under European Union directives to inspect at-risk vessels,’ he added. ‘This could result in large fi nes being levied against the UK government by the EU.’

Airline pilots’ union BALPA also ‘wholeheartedly’ supported Nautilus, pointing out that members from the two industries are united in their understanding that safety is of utmost importance.

ANautilus International general secretary Mark Dickinson has

been re-elected to the ruling body of the TUC for a sixth consecutive year.

He won one of the seven seats reserved for smaller and specialist trade unions.

‘It is an honour to be returned to the TUC general council for a further term,’ said Mr Dickinson.

‘This will ensure that Nautilus and the concerns of our members will continue to be represented at the very

highest level within the UK trade union movement.

‘The TUC at this year’s congress has shown its support for British shipping and British seafarers and the unique issues they face, including the impact of the lack of enforcement of the UK minimum wage in the ferry sector,’ he pointed out.

‘At last year’s conference delegates passed a Nautilus motion calling for the TUC to press the government to allow electronic voting in union

elections, and this looks set to become a major theme for the TUC’s work in the run-up to next year’s general election,’ Mr Dickinson added.

‘I look forward to continuing to work with the TUC and its governing body to ensure that maritime matters remain as high as possible on the TUC agenda,’ he said, ‘and to ensure that these and other issues of importance to our members continue to have the full support of the UK trade union movement.’

Bank’s backing

02 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | October 2014

NAUTILUS AT WORK

Mike Jess addresses the TUC Congress in Liverpool Picture: Andrew Wiard

Congress backs call to defend the red ensign’s standards

Bank of England governor Mark Carney and TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady Picture: Andrew Wiard

Nautilus Council member Norman Martin Picture: Andrew Wiard

FIn a keynote address to the TUC conference, Bank of England

governor Mark Carney backed the Congress theme of ‘Britain deserves a pay rise’.

He said unions had accepted cuts in pay and conditions to ensure that Britain remained competitive. While it was painful to trade lower wages for higher employment, it had provided a solid foundation for a durable expansion, he added, and he expected pay growth to resume by around the middle of next year.

Downton Abbey alert

02-03_at work.indd 2 24/09/2014 15:59

shortreportsRMT RESULT: Nautilus general secretary Mark Dickinson has sent congratulations to the winner of the elections for the leadership of the RMT union, former assistant general secretary Mick Cash. ‘I am particularly pleased because I am confi dent that the necessary cooperation between RMT and Nautilus will prosper under your leadership and that is a must for the shipping industry and the future of our respective seafaring membership,’ Mr Dickinson told him. Mr Cash replaces former general secretary Bob Crow, who died suddenly in March this year.

OVERLOADING FINE: the master, owner and operator of a Hampshire-based ferry have been ordered to pay fi nes and costs totalling £12,340 after each admitting four counts of sailing without a valid passenger certifi cate, and two charges of sailing with insuffi cient liferafts onboard. Portsmouth magistrates court heard that the Hayling Island to Eastney ferry Tina Maria had carried as many as 27 passengers earlier this year, against its certifi cated limit of 12 passengers and two crew.

MISPLACED SHIP: Maersk’s PR push for a new interactive live map didn’t quite go as planned last month. Visitors to www.maerskfl eet.com/#live-map were somewhat surprised to fi nd out that Maersk Kendal was currently travelling at 9.27 knots across the Himalayas. Maersk took the mistake in its stride, tweeting that it is ‘always exploring more direct trade routes around the globe’ with the hashtag we move mountains.

ARCTIC ALERT: search and rescue resources in the Arctic region need dramatic improvement to match the growing threats posed by increasing vessel traffi c in the area, an expert warned last month. Stein Are Hansen, of the Search & Rescue in the High North Region (SARiNOR) project, said training and equipment need to be upgraded if it is to cope with the potential scale of search and rescue and clean-up operations.

INSURANCE ALARM: concerns over the ‘super-sizing’ of merchant ships were raised at the annual conference of the International Union of Marine Insurance conference last month. Delegates were warned that the marked increases in average gross tonnage of new vessels are exposing marine insurers to much greater risks against a background of poor premium rates.

CONDOR CLAIM: two French seafarers serving with Guernsey-based Condor Ferries have taken the company to a tribunal in a bid to align their contracts with French labour law and social security provisions. What promises to be a landmark case for the rights of French seafarers is due to be heard in the port of St Malo this month.

MSC CHALLENGE: the Mediterranean Shipping Company could replace Maersk as the world’s biggest container shipping line within the next few years, according to a report from the industry analysts Alphaliner. It says MSC’s total capacity could rise to 3m TEU by the end of 2016, against a projected 2.8m TEU for Maersk.

CONFIDENCE CUT: concerns over poor freight rates, political instability and the potential for an over-supply of tonnage have resulted in a decline in overall confi dence levels in the shipping industry during the three months to August, according to the latest survey from the consultancy fi rm Moore Stephens.

HAZE ALERT: masters of ships navigating in Singapore’s waters were warned last month of the need for extra vigilance because of restricted visibility in the area. Ships have been advised to keep a proper lookout and navigate with caution as a result of haze caused by burning forests in Indonesia.

STENA BOOST: Stena Line has boosted capacity on its Killingholme to Hook of Holland route with the addition of the ro-ro Stena Scotia last month.

PThe International Trans-port Workers’ Federa-tion (ITF) is seeking to

persuade more countries around the world to ratify the Maritime Labour Convention.

Speaking at the International Chamber of Shipping conference in London last month, ITF general secretary Steve Cotton said that the convention has now been rati-fi ed by 64 countries accounting for 80% of world tonnage.

But, he warned, there are some signifi cant labour-supplying countries still to show their sup-port for the seafarers’ bill of rights. ‘We are confi dent that the grow-ing signifi cance of this conven-tion will bring about incredible change to the seafaring industry,’ he added. ‘It is, therefore, becom-ing ever more crucial that govern-ments ratify this all-encompass-ing ILO convention.

‘We understand that China, a vast labour-supply country, will ratify in the near future, but we need more,’ Mr Cotton stressed. ‘We need the US, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and many others to follow, to promote wider social justice and fair competition in the shipping industry.’

Making his fi rst formal exter-

nal speech since being confi rmed as ITF general secretary, Mr Cot-ton said more needed to be done to ensure the effective imple-mentation and enforcement of the MLC.

Further action needs to address issues including occu-pational health and safety, the recruitment and retention of sea-farers, the promotion of career opportunities, appropriate work-ing and living conditions for women seafarers, the progressive extension of social security and social protection, and the provi-

sion of access to seafarers’ welfare facilities.

Mr Cotton said the MLC showed the way in which ‘suc-cessful dialogue and collabora-tion’ between unions, owners and governments could deliver for seafarers and help to secure the shared aim of a return to a culture of quality shipping.

He said he hoped this could be carried through to secure long-overdue agreement on the ILO’s Seafarers’ Identity Docu-ments Convention. A meeting has been lined up for early next

year, involving maritime and visa experts, to conduct a cost-benefi t analysis and examine the feasibil-ity of various measures to address the issues involved in implement-ing the convention.

‘It is important that we address these issues,’ Mr Cotton stressed. ‘Securing shore leave in ports is essential for seafarers’ well-being and decent work. Agreement on Convention 185 will give a secure method of enabling seafarers to have a quality of life and get ashore, and to verify that they are bona fi de seafarers.’

Mr Cotton said the ITF had changed in recent years and needed to change further. The ITF Congress in August had set out a new ‘progressive, inclusive and action-orientated work plan’, he added, and this would promote constructive dialogue whilst also seeking to implement mini-mum standards across all supply chains.

He told the owners that the ITF is overhauling its work for seafar-ers’ welfare and has been review-ing the role of its inspectors. The importance of the ITF’s work in this area is underlined by the fact that last year it recovered more than US$38m in owed wages for seafarers, Mr Cotton added.

General secretary calls for action to put seafarer ID convention into eff ect

October 2014 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 03

NAUTILUS AT WORK

The Bahamas-fl agged cruiseship Delphin, above left, and , right, the ship’s purser checks the delivery of the back pay recovered by the ITF

ITF urges more to sign the MLC

Wages won for cruiseship crew

FThe International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has

helped to secure the payment of more than US$850,000 for crew members on a fl ag of convenience cruiseship.

The back pay — totalling $850,392 — was obtained from the Indian owner of the Bahamas-registered Delphin after crew

members complained to the ITF that they had not been paid because insuffi cient passenger numbers had caused the cancellation of cruises scheduled to mid-October.

Ruud Touwen, ITF coordinator for Germany and The Netherlands, said seafarers on the 16,214gt vessel had contacted him because the ship was going into lay-up. As a result

of the ITF’s intervention, the owner agreed to pay all outstanding wages as well as additional tips for hotel crew and compensation for a total of 199 mainly Ukrainian crew members when the vessel arrived in the German port of Bremerhaven.

Mr Touwen said the possibility of arresting the ship had been discussed with the managers, but the owner

agreed to pay the money in full. It was delivered to the ship from a bank in Hamburg, and paid to the crew members before they left on three buses to travel home to Odessa.

‘All crew thanked the ITF for their intervention in the case and they told us that without our support, the money would never have reached their pockets,’ said Mr Touwen.

ITF general secretary Steve Cotton spoke at the ICS conference last month

02-03_at work.indd 3 24/09/2014 17:57


NAUTILUS AT WORK

Members urged to give views on RFA’s proposals for the future

PBabies, dogs, children and, of course, women members, were all wel-

comed at the Nautilus Women’s Forum last month, pictured right, where the meeting discussed pos-sible campaigns for the future.

Members welcomed Geor-gina Robinson from the Sea-men’s Hospital Society, who is developing health information for women at sea. The charity recently conducted a small survey on the health issues of concern to women at sea and it will be follow-ing this up with a series of focus groups.

‘The information that came back told us that weight and diet issues, menstrual pain, and depression and loneliness were the main concerns,’ said Geor-gina. ‘There were other issues that differed by country but these issues were universal and have therefore given us a good basis for further research.’

The subject sparked a good debate among women at the forum who shared their experi-

ences and agreed to make wom-en’s health and safety at sea one of the key focuses for the future.

They will encourage women seafarers to share their experi-ences of over-the-counter medi-cines which may not be available onboard and coping methods for dealing with pre-menstrual

syndrome when at sea. The cam-paign will also raise awareness of safety issues including the proper use of lifejackets for women and other regulatory clothing such as fi re-fi ghting gear. A longer-term part of the project will campaign to have women’s health require-ments more accurately refl ected

in ships’ medicine lockers.The meeting also heard the

results a survey of women mem-bers on what they would like the Women’s Forum to focus on. An issue that was raised by a number of women was the loss of skilled and experienced women sea-farers once they had decided to move to jobs ashore.

Therefore, the women mem-bers also decided to look into run-ning a campaign with the Young Maritime Professionals Forum on transition periods, focussing on giving female members informa-tion about the job opportunities that exist after a career at sea.

Members were encouraged to think about subjects for a TUC motion for next year’s Women’s TUC and also to take part in the union campaign about the face of the maritime industry.

gThe Forum meets twice a year and the next meeting is due to take place on 7 March 2015, to coincide with International Women’s Day. For more information, contact [email protected].

Forum in talks on women’s health

FFrench unions are considering action following DFDS

Seaways’ announcement it could close its Portsmouth-Le Havre service by December, despite cutting costs on the route to make it more competitive.

The company said last month that it had begun consultations on the viability of the service, which it took over in 2012 as part of its joint venture with French operator LD Lines.

The daily round-trip service carried 185,000 passengers and 480,000 lane metres of freight in 2013, but DFDS said it had

consistently clocked up losses on the service.

Management had tried to make savings, such as replacing the ferry Norman Voyager with a smaller vessel. However, with the new sulphur emission rules coming into force on 1 January 2015, the route does not have a viable future, the company added.

If the service is abandoned, the ferry Seven Sisters and its French crew, which currently operate, the route on a time charter, would return to the ferry’s owner, Seine Maritime Council, which also operates the ailing Newhaven-Dieppe service.

Meeting hears of research into the health and safety of female seafarers

DFDS plans to close Portsmouth service

Two-year CalMac offer

FNautilus International industrial organiser Paul

Schroder is pictured visiting members onboard Queen Mary in Zeebrugge last month. Mr Schroder also attended a Fleet Marine Services Partnership at Work meeting and subsequently presented a claim for an above-RPI

increase for members serving in the Cunard and P&O Cruises fl eets at a meeting with employers in Southampton.

Mr Schroder will be visiting members onboard Adonia and Ventura on 16 October and attending another PAW meeting on 22 October.

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FRoyal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) members have received the

fi nal version of the proposed Future Development Programme.

Presentations from RFA management have now been completed and Nautilus has begun formally consulting members on whether the programme as a whole is acceptable.

‘We believed it was better to wait for the completion of the management presentations before we began the consultation,’ explained national secretary Jonathan Havard.

‘A number of members who saw the presentation have passed on their comments to me, and members are encouraged to continue to do this as the consultation progresses.’

A list of concerns which members had raised with the Union was delivered to Commodore Rob Dorey in August. They included the recruitment and retention crisis in the organisation, and the demoralisation caused by the degradation of members’ terms and conditions over the past few years

Following this, the Commodore

agreed to meet with Mr Havard and RFA liaison offi cer Russell Downs to discuss members’ concerns in more detail.

‘We have provided the Commodore and the management of the RFA with information about how members are feeling at the moment, but it was only word of mouth and the views of those who have actively contacted us.’ Mr Havard explained.

‘We now need all members to vote in the consultation so that we have a clear mandate to take to management,’ he stressed.

‘On the basis of currently concluded discussions with RFA management, Nautilus has confi rmed that we are not in a position, at this time, to recommend acceptance of the overall package to members,’ he added.

‘Members should remember that the consultation involves accepting or rejecting the entire Future Development Programme and the pay off er,’ Mr Havard stressed, ‘but they are strongly encouraged to provide additional feedback on which aspects of the package have aff ected their vote.’

FFollowing joint negotiations with Caledonian MacBrayne

management, Nautilus liaison offi cers and offi cials, and RMT, TSSA and Unite representatives, a formal pay off er has now been received.

The two-year package includes a pay increase of 2.7% eff ective each 1 October (2014 and 2015), a bonus scheme which will pay up to a

maximum of 1.5% of basic pay each year, and a cap on accrued leave of 14 days, with any accrued leave earned beyond the cap to be automatically paid. The off er also states that if RPI rises above 3.2% during the two-year period the unions may request further discussions with the company. Members have until 6 October to accept or reject the off er.

FNautilus industrial organiser Paul Schroder is pictured

meeting members employed by Smit International at Holyhead, following discussions on proposed changes to rosters. Management said that due to 203(R) squadron ceasing operations, there was no longer a need for support and it therefore proposed to withdraw the practice of employees having a week off after working three weeks.

Members at the meeting were not happy about the plans

and Mr Schroder is currently investigating counter-proposals. Any members with feedback on the changes should email [email protected] with their views.

Members at Smit have also rejected the company’s off er for a two-year pay deal. The off er included a 2.2% increase from 1 April 2014 and CPI +0.4% from 1 April 2015. Mr Schroder is seeking further talks with the company on the pay claim and over the proposed roster changes.

Nautilus industrial organiser Paul Schroder is pictured above visiting members onboard Prince Madog last month. He discussed a number of issues with members and also spoke to non-members about the benefi ts of joining the Union.

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04-05_at work.indd 4 24/09/2014 17:55

shortreportsSTENA WAIT: Nautilus senior national secretary Garry Elliott has confi rmed that he is still waiting to hear from management at Stena Line about a further meeting following the company’s not to proceed with a programme of proposed cutbacks. Management then asked for a meeting with Nautilus to discuss potential future savings and Union offi cials met with liaison offi cers to discuss members’ views. However, the Union has since been unable to secure a date with management, but Mr Elliott hopes it will take place within the next month.

MSC REJECTION: a two-year pay off er has been rejected by members serving with Marine Scotland Compliance. The off er included a 1.5% increase in 2014 and 1% in 2015 and it is likely to be imposed on members, in line with public sector pay restraints. However, the Scottish government has confi rmed that it is aware of serious manning problems and the Union will be pursuing the implementation of a retention and recruitment allowance and temporary promotion opportunities.

NORTHERN RISE: a 1% pay off er, together with a further £1,200 payment, has been reluctantly accepted by the Union on behalf of members employed by the Northern Lighthouse Board. Industrial organiser Derek Byrne noted that although the off er did not meet the Union’s claim, it was in line with off ers to other unions and the best that could be achieved without undertaking some form of industrial action.

FISHER SUBMISSION: a pay and conditions claim has been submitted on behalf of members employed by James Fisher Everards. It seeks a pay increase above RPI, a review of tours of duty and a review of the 10 days’ leave offi cers must give for training. Industrial organiser Gary Leech was due to meet the company as the Telegraph went to press.

SERCO ACCEPTED: a pay and conditions off er has been received on behalf of members employed by Serco Ferries Crewing on the northern isles service. The off er is for a ‘no strings attached’ 2.7% increase. Members had until the end of September to accept or reject the off er.

HUMBER PAY: industrial organiser Lisa Carr attended a joint unions meeting to discuss a pay deal for members employed by Associated British Ports as Humber Pilots. Members had rejected a previous off er and members will be consulted when a revised off er is received.

THAMES CLAIM: an above-RPI pay claim has been submitted on behalf of members employed by Thames Clippers. The claim also included a call to enhance the current sick scheme and consider an incremental long-service award.


NAUTILUS AT WORK

AMembers serving with scores of companies covered by Nautilus

collective bargaining agreements are being asked to submit their views on the contents of their pay and conditions claims ahead of the 1 January review date.

The Union is asking members to provide offi cials not only with their aspirations for the settlement, but also with any information relating to any factors which might justify additional pay, such as increases in workloads and responsibilities that have taken place over the last 12 months.

Companies with 1 January review

dates include:

zAnglo Eastern car carriers

zBW Fleet management

zHanson Ship Management

zIsle of Man Steam Packet Company

zMaersk Tankers

zMeridian Shipping Services ferries

zP&O Ferries, P&O Irish Sea P&O North Sea

zPG Tankers

zPort of London Authority

zRed Funnel

zStena Marine Management ferries

zUECC

zWindstar Cruises

zWyndhams Ship Management The UK Consumer Price Index

(CPI) infl ation rate fell 0.1% to 1.5% in September and the Retail Price Index (RPI) also went down 0.1% to 2.4%. The CPI rate is at a fi ve-year low but infl ation is still growing faster than average wages, which rose by just 0.6% in the three months to June from last year.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said that the fi gures showed there was no case for raising interest rates as that would risk choking off economic recovery.

‘The priority now has to be wage rises to ensure a sustained economic recovery and a return to growing living standards,’ she said.

PNautilus has wel-comed assurances from Global Marine Systems

management following the announcement last month that the company has been acquired by the US telecoms company HC2.

National secretary Jonathan Havard said the Union had been reassured that the deal will not have any impact on the jobs, pay and conditions of members serv-ing in the Global Marine fl eet.

In a deal valued at around US$260m, Virginia-based HC2 —which was founded in 1994 and describes itself as ‘one of the leading international whole-sale service providers to fi xed and mobile network opera-tors worldwide’ —has acquired

Bridgehouse Marine Ltd, the par-ent holding company of Global Marine Systems.

Global Marine has a total of six specialist cable-laying, mainte-nance and repair vessels operat-ing worldwide, as well as a pur-pose-built cable-working barge and ROVs.

HC2 CEO Philip Falcone said: ‘We are acquiring the world’s most experienced undersea cable installation and maintenance services provider at a time when signifi cant opportunities exist globally in terms of telecoms, oil and gas and offshore power requirements for subsea cabling expertise.

‘This investment in a truly global industry leader gives us

the opportunity to support the growth plans of a proven man-agement team.’

Global Marine CEO Ian Doug-las added: ‘I am delighted that our ambitions for Global Marine have the support of an investor that has the vision necessary to enable us to realise the substantial growth potential in the coming years. Together we will have the oppor-tunity to develop the services we offer our existing customers and to bring our leading capability and expertise to customers and markets around the world.’

zNautilus is seeking the views of members serving with GMS Guernsey on the contents of the forthcoming pay and conditions claim.

Assurances as Global is soldUS fi rm in $260m deal to take over cableship company

Royal visit in Greenock is latest in Princess programme

A joint unions meeting was held to discuss the pay and conditions claim for members employed by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) on ships operated by NOCS, pictured above. Members will be notifi ed when a formal response to the meeting has been received.

The Tube, 86 North Street Cheetham Hill, Manchester M8 8RA

DELIVERY WORLDWIDE

Braids Work Wear Tropical Wear Cadet Uniforms Officers Uniforms

FNautilus national secretary Jonathan Havard is pictured

meeting members onboard the passengership Royal Princess in the port of Greenock last month. The visit formed part of a continuing programme to meet offi cers serving with Fleet Maritime Services on Princess Cruises vessels. He will be in Australia at the end of the year meeting members onboard Sun Princess, Pacifi c Pearl, Pacifi c Jewel, Sea Princess and Pacifi c Dawn.

FBritish shipowners have warned that the Scottish

referendum vote against independence will not put an end to concerns about the future.

UK Chamber of Shipping CEO Guy Platten said that the referendum process had caused a large amount of uncertainty — ‘the enemy of growth’ — and said that a period of healing for businesses and communities was now needed.

Mr Platten said that whilst the outcome of the referendum, which saw the Scottish vote to remain part of the UK, would go some way to easing that uncertainty, it was too close to put an end to the independence question.

‘In 2011 the UK held a referendum on the alternative vote,’ he noted. ‘The result, 69% favouring the status quo, was so decisive that it put the question to bed for at least a generation.

‘This result has not achieved the same end, and it will mean, unless a favourable new constitutional settlement can be found, another referendum is likely within a decade or two.’

The UK Chamber did not publicly back either side of the referendum debate, but did express signifi cant concerns about what independence would mean for the shipping industry. The owners’ organisation now has concerns that the UK will enter a new term of uncertainly, sparked by the last-minute off er of new powers for Scotland.

‘What “devo-max” off ers in principle, and what it will do in practice, is unknown,’ Mr Platten added. ‘The Westminster parties will no doubt think it was a wise campaign tactic, but questions remain over its wisdom for the long-term strategic health of the UK.’

Mr Platten vowed that the Chamber would not forget about Scotland now the referendum was over and said that the organisation was already working towards an event in Holyrood in November.

Labour’s shipping spokesman Gordon Marsden had warned that crucial questions about employment, taxation and training had been left unanswered in the run-up to the referendum. Writing on the Politics Home website, Mr Marsden said that the Merchant Navy was missing from the independence white paper, with no detail on how such things as a Scottish ship register, tonnage tax, marine accident investigations, and Maritime & Coastguard Agency services would be provided in an independent Scotland.

Pay claim views wanted

UK owners warn of Scottish concerns

04-05_at work.indd 5 24/09/2014 17:56


OFFSHORE NEWS

shortreportsSEAHORSE SUBMISSION: a pay and conditions claim has been submitted on behalf of members employed by Seahorse Maritime and serving on Sealion vessels. The claim includes an above-RPI infl ation pay rise, an increase in pension contributions, and increased seniority payments and meal allowances. Members have also asked management to consider improvements to welfare onboard, better compensation for attending mandatory courses and improvements in travel to and from ship.

SUBSEA OFFER: members employed by Subsea 7 are being consulted on a pay and conditions off er. The off er includes a 2.6% increase in pay — and higher where it is needed to progress towards the alignment of salaries across the marine pool. The company also committed to providing individuals with the opportunity to upgrade their certifi cation through paid study leave. Members have until Friday 10 October to accept or reject the off er.

SIMULATOR CALL: off shore companies should be making more use of simulators to help seafarers prepare for emergencies, a conference heard last month. Speaking at the Kongsberg Maritime User Conference in Gateshead, Anthony Greener of Maersk Training argued that it should be standard practice for crew members to experience particular scenarios away from the stress of the real-life bridge environment.

HAVILA FINAL: members are being consulted on a fi nal off er from Havila Marine which includes a 3.5% increase in pay for offi cers and 3% for ratings. The company also provided more information to members on other areas of the claim which had been turned down. Members had previously rejected an increase of 3% and now have until Thursday 2 October to reject or accept the revised off er.

GULF MARKED: members employed by GulfMark Off shore have accepted the company’s off er of a 3.1% increase in pay and the continuation of the long-standing agreement for 1% on experience increments. The off er also included an increase in the safety bonus scheme, changes to compensation for delays in change-over in excess of three days, and a number of communications initiatives.

DEEP ASPIRATIONS: members employed by Deep Ocean are being asked to submit their aspirations for the pay and conditions claim ahead of the 1 January 2015 review date. Members are also being asked to provide the Union with details of any increases in offi cers’ workload and responsibilities in the last 12 months.

DIVE DEMANDS: members employed by Bibby Ship Management as marine crew dive techs on the DSV agreement are being asked to provide pay and conditions aspirations ahead of the 1 January review date.

BP SUGGESTIONS: Bibby Ship Management members serving onboard BP off shore vessels are being asked for their views on the contents of the 2015 pay and conditions claim ahead of the 1 January review date.

FA new training DVD has been released to try and tackle the

industry’s poor safety record on enclosed spaces.

Issued last month by off shore body IMCA, Working in Confi ned Spaces seeks to bring about a culture change in everyday work practice at all levels, to eradicate the needless deaths and injuries arising from entry into

enclosed spaces.More people die or are injured in

enclosed spaces than through any other related onboard work activity, points out IMCA — ‘this despite numerous guidelines, safety regimes, operational procedures, manuals and assurance surveys.’

The new DVD gives famous examples of dangerous enclosed

spaces and helps seafarers and off shore workers identify similar risks in a marine context.

gWorking in Confi ned Spaces is available in 10 languages commonly spoken by ships’ crews worldwide. It costs £20 + VAT (or £10 + VAT for IMCA members), and is accompanied by a pocket safety card. See [email protected] and www.imca-int.com.

Operators call for lower costs

FA new board has been set up to spearhead the recovery of

challenging oil and gas reserves on the UK Continental Shelf. Established last month, the Technology Leadership Board (TLB) is a joint initiative between government and industry to make sure all parties work together eff ectively and apply the right technology where it is needed.

‘In a mature basin like the UKCS, the easiest to recover reserves have already been extracted,’ pointed out Oonagh Werngren of Oil & Gas UK. ‘Technological innovation is therefore a key factor in helping companies to produce oil and gas from technically complex fi elds including those with heavy oil and very deep reservoirs, diffi cult shallow-water gas fi elds or those with high pressure, high temperature characteristics.

A number of initiatives have been put in place to address this problem under the UK government’s new Industrial Strategy, including the establishment of PILOT (a government-industry forum) and the Oil and Gas Industry Council. The creation of the TLB is the logical next step, said Ms Werngren, and its role will be to ‘coordinate and lead activities on a UK-wide basis to identify priority technology areas and make sure the resources are in place to deliver them.’

She added: ‘The TLB will also draw on work being done by PILOT work groups which are addressing the potential for technology to improve exploration success, increase production effi ciency, raise recovery levels and safely extend the operating lives of oil and gas fi elds on the UKCS.’

Oil & Gas UK warns of ‘challenges’ in recovering reserves

New board to boost joint tech working

Guide for enclosed spaces safety

Technip newbuild starts work

PScotland’s offshore indus try was a big battle-ground in the independ-

ence referendum, and following last month’s ‘no’ vote, Oil & Gas UK re-stated its commitment to work closely with the UK and Scottish governments to max-imise recovery of the remaining reserves.

A big talking point in the inde-pendence debate was the scale of the potential resources on the UKCS. One expert predicted that there were almost 100 possible new discoveries to be made over the next 30 years, while another criticised the ‘fantasy’ predictions of future output.

UK Oil & Gas chief executive Malcolm Webb commented: ‘The referendum campaign rightly revealed the important role the offshore oil and gas industry plays in our economy, both in Scotland and in the rest of the UK.

‘This is understandable given this industry remains the UK’s largest corporate taxpayer and largest industrial investor, and its crucial role in helping assure thousands of well-paid highly skilled jobs as well as our energy security,’ he added.

Noting the heated debate about the remaining reserves, Mr Webb said Oil & Gas UK’s posi-tion remains that there could be between 12bn to 24bn barrels of oil and gas still to recover. But, he warned, ‘pivotal challenges need to be resolved if we are to stand any chance of reaching the top half of this range.

‘To safeguard the industry’s future, it is particularly impor-tant that that the government now presses swiftly ahead with fi scal reform as well as the imple-mentation of Sir Ian Wood’s rec-ommendations to maximise the economic recovery of our oil and

gas resource,’ Mr Webb said. ‘The industry must not delay either in a cross-sector effort to bring its escalating costs under control.’

The scale of the different views on remaining resources was underlined when University of Aberdeen economist Alex Kemp suggested there could be 99 ‘com-mercially viable’ discoveries by 2045 and a further 58 which could become economically viable by then, which contain more than 1bn barrels.

But Sir Ian Wood, who wrote the report on maximising the recovery of reserves in the UKCS, criticised ‘unrealistic’ forecasts about potential reserves. He said the realistic fi gure is somewhere between 15bn to 16.5bn barrels, and it was highly unlikely that this could be increased signifi cantly after 2050 as the small remaining discoveries ‘will be hugely chal-lenging to develop’.

APictured right is the new 15,701gt subsea construction

vessel North Sea Atlantic, which has entered into service in the Technip fl eet with an initial project in the Norwegian sector to be followed by work in the UKCS.

Built in Norway, the Maltese-fl agged multi-purpose vessel was designed to Technip’s specifi cations and is capable of undertaking pipe lay, subsea construction and inspection, repair and maintenance projects.

Equipped with innovative roll-

reduction tanks to allow increased operability in extreme conditions, the ship will work predominantly in the North Sea but is also suitable for deep-water operations worldwide.

Capable of accommodating up to 120 personnel, North Sea Atlantic’s onboard facilities include a hospital, conference and internet facilities as well as a gymnasium and cinema.

The DP Class 3 vessel is equipped with a 550-tonne active heave-compensated crane and a 2,000-tonne underdeck carousel for product storage.

APictured left are the GulfMark UK vessels Highland Defender and

Highland Guardian, which have been retro-fi tted with two anti-roll tanks at the Shipdock yard in Amsterdam.

Completed within a six-week lead-time — including four weeks in dock — the work on the two platform supply vessels included the cutting and fi tting of 150 tonnes of steel and the installation of the tanks directly against the aft face of the vessels’ accommodation.

Constructed as a complete single section, extending across the entire weather deck from port to starboard

side, the tanks have been designed to reduce the roll motion and roll angle during adverse weather conditions.

The yard said the retro-fi tting project will not only improve the operational capabilities of the 3,900gt sisterships, but will also enhance working conditions for their crew.

‘Our vessels are now even better equipped to face the harsh environments they will encounter within the operational arenas that they were designed for,’ said Jim Bradford, GulfMark’s operations general manager.

PSVs’ dry dock and anti-roll

06_offshore.indd 6 24/09/2014 17:56


NEWS

PMaritime unions in Aus-tralia and New Zealand have welcomed a deci-

sion to ban a ship which repeat-edly fell foul of seafarer welfare standards when checked by port state control inspectors.

The Liberian-registered con-tainership Vega Auriga was barred from Australian ports for three months when it clocked up its third detention by the Australian Maritime Safety Agency (AMSA) since 25 July last year.

The 9,981gt vessel had repeat-edly been found to have problems including improper payment of wages, inadequate living and working conditions, and sub-standard maintenance.

Announcing the ban, AMSA general manager Allan Schwartz said it was important that ships entering the country’s ports meet minimum international stand-ards, including those covering crew welfare. ‘Seafarer welfare is just as important as the proper maintenance of ship equipment, and an integral part of safe opera-tions,’ he pointed out. ‘A failure in either system could lead to seri-ous accidents.’

Maritime Union of Australia national secretary Paddy Crumlin

said he hoped the ban refl ected a new drive to protect seafarers. ‘This is the fi rst time the full force of the Maritime Labour Conven-tion has been used in Australia and AMSA should be congratu-lated for taking this stand to protect the welfare of seafarers, and for setting a good example for other countries to follow,’ he added.

ITF Australia coordinator Dean Summers said the ship’s third party operator — Mediterranean Shipping Company — needed to vet its chartered fl eet more care-fully.

Following its detention in Aus-tralia, where inspectors found 21 defi ciencies, Vega Auriga sailed to New Zealand — and was detained again, with 14 defi ciencies, includ-ing inadequate rest hour records and no common working lan-guage among the crew.

Vega Auriga had been sailing between Sydney and Brisbane in Australia, Noumea in New Cale-donia and Tauranga, New Zealand on MSC New Zealand’s Noumea service.

New Zealand, unlike Australia, is yet to ratify the MLC and unions said the Vega Auriga case high-lighted the need for urgent action

to ensure the seafarers’ bill of rights is enforced in the country’s waters.

The Maritime Union of New Zealand says the New Zealand Government has the Maritime Labour Convention under consid-eration, but the process needed to be accelerated. This incident shows the urgency of getting New Zealand up to speed as a signatory of the MLC.

Captain Lew Henderson, vice-president of the NZ Merchant Service Guild, commented: ‘The importance of NZ signing the MLC convention is paramount in ensuring such operators are not allowed to treat their crews in this manner. We could mention that ITF rates should be considered minimum, and vessels trading on routes historically covered by NZ and Aussie crews are already using third world crews to under-mine the opportunities of NZ and Australian offi cers and ratings.’

The Guild’s new president, Captain Russell Petrie, added: ‘We hope to see the Maritime NZ port state control function strength-ened further and we’re heartened that more inspectors have been employed this year. It is highly possible that this is just the tip of

the iceberg. The fact is that unless the country is inspecting foreign vessels thoroughly, we just don’t know.’

Nautilus ITF inspector Tommy Molloy pointed out that the Ger-man company which operates Vega Auriga also owned and operated the Gibraltar-fl agged containership Philipp, which was detained in the UK in 2012. He recovered US$238,000 in owed wages for the crew, which was sub-sequently twice stolen back from the seafarers.

‘More recently, both the ITF and MCA had problems with Vega Pollux in Southampton,’ he added. ‘We are contacted by crews of their ships on a regular basis, who are owed two and three months’ wages.

‘The company cannot be sur-prised by this action and I think AMSA is to be applauded for tak-ing such a stand,’ Mr Molloy said. ‘I would hope there would be a consistent approach along these lines from other national enforce-ment agencies. After all, Vega Auriga must trade elsewhere. If this vessel is not acceptable in Australian ports, why should the standards be lower in the ports of other countries?’

Ship is banned for MLC breachSeafaring unions ‘heartened’ by decision to bar vessel for welfare problems

Contact us today for a quote

vikingrecruitment.com/travel +44 (0) 300 303 8191 (opt 1) [email protected]

We are able to offer competitive, specially negotiated fares for all types of air travel, be it UK Domestic, European or Worldwide.

Staff employed in the marine industry, from crew and shore-based staff to spouses travelling to and from vessels, can make use of our extensive marine fare programme, while those seeking flights for other types of travel will benefit from our efficient and personal service.

AMore than 200 young people applied for 12 maritime

apprenticeships being off ered by an off shore windfarm vessel operator.

Isle of Wight based Seacat Services said the huge response demonstrated the strong and continued interest in seafarer training among school leavers.

The company off ered the deckhand apprenticeships in support of a programme to expand its seven-strong fl eet of 21-26m crew transfer vessels.

It said the training refl ected a commitment to meet increasingly stringent requirements and to

address a skills shortage in the UK off shore renewables sector.

The apprentices, pictured left, are aged between 18 and 23, and will work towards a Level 2 Diploma in maritime studies and a certifi cate of competence. They will have shore-based training at the Red Ensign centre in Cowes, in conjunction with work-based training onboard Seacat vessels under the mentorship of the master and mate.

Seacat Services MD Ian Baylis commented: ‘It’s really a no-brainer to start making use of this vast pool of homegrown talent as the UK’s off shore wind industry expands.

The support vessel sector has been something of a leader in this regard, with the majority of crew transfer vessels servicing the European industry either built in or operated from the UK.’

Iain Mackinnon, secretary of the Maritime Skills Alliance, which developed the apprenticeship in partnership with a number of fi rms in the sector, added: ‘Employers like Seacat Services now have a range of maritime apprenticeships they can choose from to suit their own needs, and it’s terrifi c to see them getting such a good response from local young people.’

More than 200 apply for 12 off shore windfarm vessel apprenticeships

FNautilus has become one of the key supporting organisations

for the 2015 London International Shipping Week (LISW), which plans to focus on the shape of the industry in a decade’s time.

Addressing the LISW2015 launch event last month, Baltic Exchange CEO Jeremy Penn said organisers are seeking to build on the success of the inaugural event last year by staging a series of meetings, seminars and functions to highlight the strength and breadth of the UK’s maritime sector.

‘It is all about innovation in shipping, but this can only be achieved if there is joined-up partnership

between industry and government,’ he stressed.

‘We want LISW2015, and the conference in particular, to help people think about the shape of shipping in 10 years’ time. What role will China be playing then; and how will India and Africa’s importance and infl uence have changed? How can shipping achieve the necessary 30%-40% reduction in operating costs as opposed to just 5% or 10%?’

London International Shipping Week 2015 will take place from 7 to 11 September throughout London, with some additional events being lined up in other parts of the country.

Nautilus signs up for 2015 shipping week

E-learning aid for at-sea mentorsF

Nautilus has welcomed the release of a revised e-learning

package aimed at improving the standard of mentoring onboard ship.

Training, Mentoring and Assessment On Board, from Videotel, aims to support the IMO requirement for a standardisation of training and assessment for all member state countries as part of the revised and updated STCW — the so-called ‘Manila Amendments’.

The programme highlights the main components of eff ective mentoring and demonstrates how to develop the skills to become a good mentor. It is primarily aimed at trainees considering a career at sea, in addition to serving offi cers and ratings wanting to develop their careers.

It also provides important information for those both on shore and onboard ship involved in the provision, monitoring and assessment

of the training programme within a company.

A key element of the programme is the Training Record Book (TRB), which not only serves as a comprehensive checklist for the trainee and the Designated Shipboard Training Offi cer (DSTO), but most importantly serves as proof of achievement for the respective national administration that eventually issues the certifi cations.

Nautilus general secretary Mark Dickinson commented: ‘The important part now is for companies to make use of tools like this and take shipboard mentoring more seriously. Both our Women’s Forum and Young Maritime Professionals Forum have expressed concern about mentoring standards, particularly onboard UK tonnage tax vessels, and we want to see all trainees given the right kind of support in future.’

07_news.indd 7 24/09/2014 15:59

As part of our growing support for seafarers serving in the large yacht sector, all members are entitled to a free copy of the Nautilus service record book, which has been produced to assist in the recording and calculation of qualifying sea service for the purpose of certifi cation.

Nautilus International works closely with the MCA and regulatory authorities in Europe and around the world, and this SRB is one of only two that the MCA recognises worldwide as evidence of acceptable service.

Once your yacht service is verifi ed in our offi ce in Antibes, then the MCA accepts the Nautilus SRB as suffi cient proof of onboard and sea service and no further supporting documentation is required.

zContact the membership

department either via email or

telephone to receive your free SRB.


LARGE YACHT NEWS

HOTLINE FOR YACHT CREWNautilus has established a dedicated phoneline in Antibes to off er advice and assistance:

+33 (0)9 62 61 61 40 Nautilus International, in strategic partnership with D&B Services, 3 Bd. D’Aguillon, 06600 Antibes, France.

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OinMssd

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Yacht crew join now!email [email protected] call +44 (0)151 639 8454

by Michael Howorth

FAWYM, the superyacht management division of the

merchant ship managers Andrew Weir, has been contracted as the sole provider of technical management services to the 162m superyacht Eclipse.

Reported to be ultimately owned by Roman Abramovich, Eclipse is the world’s second longest superyacht, and the AWYM contract covers the provision of a full ISM system and related services, including the

appointment of a DPA and 24-hour emergency response.

Technical services will include the implementation and approval of a new planned maintenance system and liaison between fl ag state, class and the yacht.

‘We are delighted to be handling the technical management of Eclipse and look forward to working with the owner’s representatives and the captain, offi cers and crew,’ said AWYM MD Steve Corkhill.

A key factor with the technical management contract is that AWYM

will work in partnership with the yacht’s onboard management team, business development manager Daniel Taylor explained.

‘Every management contract is diff erent, and in most cases, “top-down” management simply doesn’t work in the yachting industry,’ he added.

‘Our service to Eclipse will be as fl exible as possible and management decisions will be taken in conjunction with the client’s representatives to ensure that the operation of the yacht is never compromised.’

PSuperyacht crew training trends have undergone a signifi cant shift over the

past year, and junior crew mem-bers need to think carefully over the way in which their career will progress, an expert warned last month.

Speaking ahead of the Monaco Yacht Show, Lars Lippuner, busi-ness development manager at Warsash Superyacht Academy (WSA), said the shake-up in train-ing patterns has been driven by a combination of regulatory requirements and the increasing size of many vessels.

Mr Lippuner said the 2010 STCW ‘Manila amendments’ have brought the biggest change in international maritime training rules since 1995. ‘The new train-ing requirements caused by the Manila Amendments to the STCW Code put a lot of additional strain on yacht crew, but the completion of these courses is inevitable,’ he added.

Demand for offi cers with unlimited certifi cation has

increased within the yachting industry as a result of the grow-ing numbers of vessels over the 3,000gt threshold and of those coded as passenger yachts capa-ble of carrying up to 36 guests, he pointed out.

Mr Lippuner said there has also been an increase in the num-ber of yacht crew enrolling on non-mandatory courses as part of their continued professional development.

‘At the same time, the gap between the simplifi ed yacht route and the route leading to full unlimited certifi cation has further decreased and many jun-ior crews would be well advised to explore their options accord-ingly,’ he stressed.

The Manila amendments introduced new training require-ments such as the Effi cient Deck Hand course; human element, leadership and management, and ECDIS courses; as well as new security courses for all crew work-ing on ISPS-compliant yachts, Mr Lippuner added.

The next important change will come into effect in January 2017, when all crew will need to update their STCW fi re-fi ghting, rescue craft and sea survival courses every fi ve years.

‘We were the fi rst yacht train-ing provider to roll out these courses during 2014, and while updating training won’t be required for another two and a bit years, yacht crew are well advised to start planning ahead, as mari-ners worldwide will be wanting to complete their updating training by that date,’ he advised.

The fi rst cohort of WSA yacht students successfully completed their OOW (Unlimited) certifi cate earlier this year. Academy direc-tor Andrew Hair commented: ‘Deck offi cers with unlimited certifi cation and yacht experi-ence are in very high demand and the course has been immensely successful, with the candidates achieving outstanding results. They are now back at work with an unlimited certifi cate of compe-tency in their pocket.’

Crews warned on STCW rulesRegulatory changes and bigger yachts shake up training

Control ‘fi rst’ for Feadship yacht

APictured above is the 60.35m motor yacht Rock.It, launched

by the Dutch builder Feadship last month.

The fully customised vessel is claimed to be the fi rst to use a

cutting-edge intuitive control and manoeuvring system technology, with a semi-DP autopilot system, that will enable Rock.It to maintain her heading at anchor, hovering on the main engines and thrusters.

Capable of accommodating up to 10 guests and 12 crew members, the Cayman Islands-registered yacht is powered by twin MTU 12V4000M53R engines developing 1,140 kW at 1,600rpm.

Survey set to examine turnover

FYoung people needing support to study for a professional

career-entry qualifi cation in the superyacht sector may be able to qualify for funding from the Royal Merchant Navy Education Foundation.

Those eligible to be considered for the support must be British nationals and in fi nancial need, and have one parent who has served at sea in any

capacity in the Merchant Navy, or as a professional fi sherman or in the RNLI.

The Foundation’s support may be available to existing cadets or those applying for a cadetship at UKSA’s fl agship Superyacht Cadetship course (2014 or 2015 intake), for training phases 3 and 5, as well as the foundation degree element. The support is available to those who

have been unable to obtain funding elsewhere for their cadetship as much as to those who have been partly successful.

Applicants should fi rst speak to course advisors at UKSA before applying to the Foundation. Phone UKSA’s career specialists on 01983 203038 or email [email protected].

gMore details: www.rmnef.org.uk

F A superyacht training fi rm has launched a survey to examine

the reasons behind crew turnover in the sector.

Impact Crew, which provides leadership and team development training, used the Monaco Yacht Show as a launch pad for the research, which seeks to discover the primary drivers infl uencing crew in the decision to move on.

The online survey covers such areas as rank and experience in the

industry, and asks participants about the importance of factors such as pay, promotion, prospects, working conditions, training, workloads, resources, and onboard morale.

‘Crew turnover is a topic of hot debate as its eff ects are felt industry-wide — from owners to captains, recruitment agents, yacht managers and crew themselves — with the obvious impacts upon costs, safety-related incidents, experience and onboard knowledge, but also the less

apparent yet often more far reaching “human” aspects such as owner experience and crew morale,’ the company pointed out.

Impact Crew founder Karen Passman added: ‘With a greater depth of understanding of the push and pull factors, we will be able to provide some compelling data that could help drive changes in the yachting industry to reduce turnover onboard.’

fTo complete the survey, visit: www.impactcrew.com

Support for studies on offer

AWYM bags Eclipse contract

AFor many years the former lighthouse tender Windsor

Castle, right, has been laid-up on the River Fal in Falmouth awaiting conversion to a superyacht.

Owned by the Bamford family, it was speculated that she would become a stable mate to their 73m Virginian. Instead, she has been acquired by the owners of the royal yacht Britannia. They plan to plough over £1m into converting this classically-designed vessel into a 25-bedroom luxury ‘boatique’ hotel that will be berthed permanently

adjacent to Britannia in the port of Leith.

Launched in August 1963, Windsor Castle was the last ship built by the Blythswood Shipbuilding Company, Glasgow, and was previously the Northern Lighthouse Board tender Fingal. She was sold by the NLB in 2000 and has been laid up ever since in Cornwall. The 74m ship arrived in Leith late in August and will undergo an 18-month conversion, before her scheduled opening as a fl oating hotel in spring 2016. Picture: Tom Fish

08_yachts.indd 8 24/09/2014 16:36


NEWS

PFlag states have been urged by the head of the International Maritime

Organisation to step up to their responsibilities under global reg-ulation.

Speaking to the International Chamber of Shipping Interna-tional Shipping Conference in London last month, Koji Sekimizu, IMO secretary–general, said he was concerned by the slow pro-gress being made to implement crucial conventions.

Both the Ballast Water Man-agement Convention and the Ship Recycling Convention have been on the agenda ‘for too long’, Mr Sekimizu said, and he called for more countries to ratify them to ensure they can come into force at last.

The IMO leader said the theme for this year’s World Maritime Day will be the effective imple-mentation of the organisation’s conventions, and he hoped the move towards a mandatory audit scheme for IMO member states will help to ensure that the qual-ity of shipping can be maintained at the required standards.

Next year’s World Maritime Day theme will be maritime edu-cation and training. Mr Sekimizu said the subject is very close to his heart.

‘Indeed,’ he added, ‘it is impossible to stress how impor-tant an issue this is. Without a quality labour force, moti-vated, trained and skilled to the appropriate international stand-ards, the industry cannot thrive.’

He told the owners’ confer-ence that the IMO is presently undergoing a process of sweeping change to improve its effi ciency and transparency and is pres-ently facing three major new chal-lenges: a humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean, and the safety of domestic ferries and large con-tainerships.

The IMO is seeking to improve rescue systems to help cope with the problems posed by migrants from Africa seeking to cross to southern Europe in unsuitable and unseaworthy boats. Forecasts suggest that 100,000 migrants will attempt the journey in the second half of this year, Mr Sekimizu said, and regional coast-guards cannot deal with such numbers.

Following the Sewol ferry dis-aster in South Korea earlier this year, the IMO leader said it was time to take further action to improve the safety of domestic ferries, and a major conference on the issue is being organised in the Philippines in April 2015.

Mr Sekimizu said it was also right to take a fresh look at con-tainership safety in the wake of the structural failure and sinking last year of the Bahamas-fl agged MOL Comfort.

‘The safety of large container-ships is an important issue for IMO and I would appreciate any contribution on the matter from the industry that may lead to con-crete proposals on large contain-ership safety,’ he added.

gBoxship safety — see page 12.

IMO calls for flag states to do moreCountries criticised for slow progress in implementing major conventions

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STCW10 Updating Training

ARoyal Fleet Auxiliary Commodore Rob Dorey is

pictured starting the steel cutting to get work on the new-generation RFA tanker Tidespring under way at the DSME yard in South Korea.

Set to be the fi rst of a new series of four double-hull tankers being built as part of the Military Afl oat

Reach and Sustainability (MARS) programme, Tidespring is being built in blocks that will be pieced together in dry dock ahead of a formal naming ceremony in autumn next year.

Following sea trials off South Korea, Tidespring will sail to the UK to be fi tted out with military equipment and communications systems ahead

of planned entry into service in 2016.Battle honours from the former Tidespring, which was withdrawn from service in the early 1990s, have been sent to South Korea to be installed on the new vessel. Three sisterships — Tiderace, Tidesurge and Tideforce — are due to be delivered by the end of the decade.

Steel cut for fi rst new RFA tanker

FNautilus has paid tribute to International Maritime Organisation leader Koji Sekimizu,

after he announced last month that he will be stepping down from his post at the end of next year.

The IMO secretary–general said he had decided not to seek a second four-year term in offi ce because his wife has been seriously ill and he was concerned that this had prevented him from being able to ‘100% commit myself to the work of the IMO’.

‘My core reason for not seeking reappointment is that if she becomes unwell again in the future, that could aff ect my duty and responsibilities and I may

have to compromise my work in order to ensure her care,’ he added. ‘I am sure that there are a number of highly-qualifi ed people who can replace me and lead the organisation towards the future. But nobody can replace me to take care of her.’

Nautilus general secretary Mark Dickinson said he was sorry to hear that Mr Sekimizu would not stand for re-election as IMO secretary-general — especially at a time when the UN agency is making signifi cant changes to the way its work is carried out.

In a letter to the IMO leader, Mr Dickinson wrote: ‘We have deeply appreciated your sincere interest

in the work of seafarers and their critical role in delivering the regulatory objectives and principles of the IMO. In particular, we have expressed repeated support for your worthy ambition to seek to halve the rate of deaths at sea,’ he added.

Mr Dickinson said Mr Sekimizu had made commendable eff orts to improve the way in which the international shipping industry is regulated and to fi nd better ways of developing controls that keep pace with the accelerating technological advances. ‘We hope his successor will be able to continue to drive this process forward,’ he added.

FA milestone in the construction of what will become the biggest

cruiseship built for the UK market was passed at the Fincantieri shipyard in Italy last month as the engines of P&O Cruises’ Britannia were started for the fi rst time.

The ship’s master, Capt Paul Brown, is pictured above with Formula One racing presenter Suzi Perry as chief engineer Sinclair Ross powered up the engines.

The 142,000gt vessel features a diesel-electric propulsion system, with fi ve tier II-type engines supplied by MAN Diesel & Turbo, and a total power capacity of 62,400kW.

Due to come into service in March 2015, Britannia will carry up to 3,647 passengers and 1,350 crew. The ship will operate Mediterranean cruises in the summer and transfer to the Caribbean in the winter.Picture: James Morgan

Master is jailed for drinking on duty

IMO leader to step down next year Milestone for Britannia

AA shipmaster has been jailed for four months after a Scottish

court heard that he had been almost four times over the alcohol limit while in command of his vessel.

Sentencing Captain Andrejs Borodins, Sheriff Alastair Brown told him that he had put the safety of his ship at risk: ‘You put yourself in a condition where you were unable to discharge your responsibilities as master of the vessel. I regard that as very serious — it is a gross breach of your duty.’

The court heard that police were called to the 1,212gt general cargoship

Frifj ord after a local pilot assisting with the vessel’s arrival in July this year told Dundee harbour authorities that Capt Borodins was unable to carry out instructions and appeared unsteady on his feet.

Breathalyser tests showed an alcohol reading of 137mg per 100ml, against the legal limit of 35mg.

Defence solicitor John Kydd said Capt Borodins had served at sea for 25 years and did not normally drink very much.

‘He was exhausted from doing back-to-back six-hour shifts and that was his reason for drinking,’ he added.

09_news.indd 9 24/09/2014 16:37


NEWS

BIMCO looks into fouling

PThe Merchant Navy Offi cers Pension Fund (MNOPF) has introduced

an innovative payroll consolida-tor service which aims to simplify the payment system for mem-bers.

Introduced following the £1.3bn recent buy-out of the Old Section, the ‘myMNOPFpension’ service provides MNOPF mem-bers with a single helpline and ensures that they will only receive one pension payment, tax code and payslip in respect of benefi ts from different pension sources.

As a result of the recent Old Section buy-out, members’ pen-

sions are now provided through policies from either Rothesay Life or Legal and General (L&G). myMNOPFpension enables those members receiving monthly income from up to three sources, including the fund’s new section, to get it through a single payment stream instead.

Claimed to be the fi rst ever example of a truly aggregated service, the scheme means that members will not have to contact as many as three different organi-sations if they need to update such information as changes of address, benefi ciaries or bank details.

MNOPF chief executive Andrew Waring commented: ‘Our top priority in negotiating the Old Section buy-out arrangements has been to secure the benefi ts of all our members. We are also proud to have created a seamless administrative arrangement to make things as easy as possible for members in the future.

‘We believe that the consolida-tor model that has been imple-mented through the establish-ment of myMNOPFpension is ground-breaking and unique in the industry.

‘We are proud to have deliv-ered this service to our members,’

he added. ‘We have been looking after Merchant Navy offi cers and their families for 75 years and securing our members’ benefi ts without causing them any con-fusion or diffi culties is of para-mount importance and we feel that myMNOPFpension has ena-bled us to do this.’

The trustees worked alongside the insurers and the adminis-trator, JLT Employee Benefi ts, to develop the system, which is also supported by HM Revenue and Customs.

JLT director Margaret Snow-don said the service ‘resets the benchmark’ for members.

MNOPF made simple

FUK ferry services have recorded a 2.6% year-on-year increase

in passenger numbers in the eight months to August.

Figures released last month by the industry body Discover Ferries reveal that almost 28m people travelled by ferry in the fi rst eight months of 2014, with almost 15m travelling in the three summer months of June, July and August.

The most marked growth in the summer months was in numbers on ferries sailing to continental Europe — up 4.2% from 2013. The fi rst eight months of this year have also witnessed 1.3% more cars and 3.6% more coaches going by ferry than in the same period in 2013.

Discover Ferries director Bill Gibbons noted: ‘The year-to-date growth of 2.6% continued a growth momentum started last year, when 38m ferry passengers were carried in 2013 — up by a million on the previous year.’

Fund claims a fi rst with consolidated payment system and single helpline

Increase in UK ferry numbers

Round-the-world yachties get training at Tyneside

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ANautilus ITF inspector Tommy Molloy is pictured right speaking

at the annual conference of the Association of Port Health Authorities (APHA), held in London onboard HQS Wellington last month.

Entitled ‘modern-day slavery in the international maritime industry’, the presentation highlighted some of the challenges to the health and welfare of seafarers, with examples to show the way in which their basic rights are breached by unscrupulous employers.

APHA members are based throughout the UK and play a frontline role in helping to protect public health standards by enforcing health and safety rules on visiting vessels and in port areas. Their responsibilities include public, animal and environmental health controls at sea and airports.

‘I have an excellent working relationship with Manchester port

health offi cers and also those in Liverpool,’ Mr Molloy said. ‘This was a great opportunity to let a wider audience know just what the ITF is and what we do and to highlight some of the appalling conditions we fi nd seafarers working in. To do so is a vital part of an ITF inspector’s role.

‘The conference was originally scheduled to take place in the maritime museum in London, and as it has an exhibition related to slavery I was asked if I could give a presentation which tied in with that — hence the title of my presentation. By the end, I am sure they were convinced it exists.’

Inspector warns port health off icials of shipping ‘slavery’

APictured above is the winning entry in a national

photography competition to fi nd the UK’s best sea view.

Taken by Justin Minns, it shows the wreck of the steam trawler Sheraton, on Hunstanton Beach in Norfolk, and was judged to be the best of more than 400 submissions to the competition, staged by the

Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society (SMS).

The competition encouraged participants to send in photographs of anything which best shows and celebrates the UK’s connection with, and reliance on, the sea and seafarers.

SMS chief executive Commodore Malcolm Williams said the contest

had attracted many high quality entries. ‘This competition is a great way to celebrate our commitment to those who dedicate their lives to the sea,’ he added.

‘The work seafarers do, to provide us with food and other necessities to ensure our standard of living, is extremely important to the UK as an island nation.’

FSailors taking part in one of the world’s most prestigious

round-the-world races have had special safety training at South Tyneside ahead of their gruelling and dangerous 39,000-mile challenge.

Competitors from seven teams in the nine-month Volvo Ocean Race, which starts on 4 October, have undergone intensive safety training at South Shields Marine School’s Marine Safety Training Centre (MSTC), including rigorous deep pool sessions — facing high wave and rain simulation — and classroom theory studies.

Graham Johnson, MSTC head of school, said: ‘The event organisers could realistically have picked any training centre in the world, but chose here because of our fi ne reputation and location. Having them come here for this crucial training is a tremendous validation of the centre.’

Dee Caff ari, from the all-female Team SCA, described the facilities as fi rst class and added: ‘It was very good to train here. We learned lessons that we hope to never have to put into practice, but it’s good to have it in the back of our minds.’

FBIMCO has launched an online survey to fi nd out the real picture

on the methods ship owners and operators are using for the treatment of biofouling, and the performance of the various methods on diff erent ships and over varying time periods.

Aron Sørenson, chief marine technical offi cer at BIMCO, who is leading the study, said: ‘We believe there is a lack of collective knowledge on biofouling management and treatment practices in the shipping industry.

‘BIMCO would like to build a clearer picture of practice and performance for biofouling management, and how current antifouling technologies are performing on various ship types.

‘We will use and share the outcome to work on the industry’s behalf to highlight any issues of concern. Once analysed, the survey result could form the basis for a BIMCO submission to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).’

fThe survey closes on 21 November and can be accessed on the BIMCO website: www.bimco.org

FMembers of the maritime community raised a hefty

£113,000 for research into childhood cancers and immune diseases when they took part in the OSCAR Dragon Boat Race last month.

Held in London’s Docklands, the event featured 24 teams of rowers from across the industry. No previous experience was required, just a willingness to raise lots of money in sponsorship. Olympic swimming champion Duncan Goodhew kicked off the races, and London 2012 rowing star Helen Glover was on hand with her own Olympic gold medal to present the prizes.

And the winner was… actually two teams, who fi nished the fi nal in

a dead heat: RS Platou and Scorpio UK. The rowers also had the chance to nominate their bosses to take part in a special kayak challenge, which saw Mark Jackson of AM Nomikos claim fi rst place.

The money raised will go towards the OSCAR campaign (Ocean and Shipping Community Advancing Children’s Health and Research), founded by Phil Parry of Spinnaker Global Shipping Recruitment. OSCAR unites the international shipping community to raise signifi cant funds towards areas of urgently needed research at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

gDonations of any size are still welcome at www.gosh.org/oscar

Rowers raise £113,000 for OSCAR campaign

10-11_news.indd 10 24/09/2014 17:05


NEWS

Master is fi ned for windfarm collision

11-year sentence for man who started fi re on ferry

PThe UK government has launched a consultation over proposals to make

major changes to domestic mari-time regulations to bring them into line with the Manila amend-ments to the Standards of Train-ing, Certifi cation & Watchkeep-ing (STCW) convention.

It is seeking views on a wide-ranging package which includes changes to the alcohol limits laid down by the Railways & Trans-port Safety Act 2003 and replac-ing sections of the Merchant Shipping Regulations 1997 with an entirely new measure entitled Merchant Shipping (STCW Con-vention) Regulations.

The new regulations will set new, lower limits of alcohol in breath, blood and urine samples:

zin the case of breath, levels are reduced from 35 to 25mg of alcohol in 100ml

zin the case of blood, levels are reduced from 80 to 50mg of alcohol in 100ml

zin the case of urine, levels are reduced from 107 to 67mg of alcohol in 100ml

The new STCW regulations update sections on training and certifi cation for ships, train-ing and certifi cation for hov-ercraft, and safe manning and watchkeeping. They cover issues including revalidation and refresher training, new safety and security training require-ments, and special training for crews on tankers and passenger-ships.

The Manila amendments actually came into force on 1 January 2012, but included a fi ve-

year transitional period. As a sig-natory to the STCW Convention, the UK needs to have the legisla-tion in place to enable maritime training providers to provide the appropriate courses for seafarers to train under the Manila amend-ments. If this is not done by the 2017 deadline, then UK seafarers would be unable to work outside of UK waters.

This statutory requirement follows extensive discussions that the Union has held both directly and via the MNTB.

The consultation includes an impact assessment which asks respondents for their opinions on issues including the num-ber of seafarers affected by the changes, the wage differentials between offi cers and ratings, the costs of the training needed to meet the new requirements and whether shipowners are likely to pay for training.

The government predicts that it will cost the economy around £78.57m to fully implement these changes — with the two main ele-ments being the costs of training courses and the loss of productiv-ity while seafarers are attending courses. The government envis-ages these costs will be borne by shipowners in most cases, but the impact assessment asks for feed-back on this assumption.

gThe consultation closes on 31 October and members can take part in it by visiting www.gov.uk/government/consultations/updating-uk-seafarer-training-standards or forwarding their views to the Union’s P&T department.

FPictured above are staff and volunteers from the Mission

to Seafarers (MTS) in the Port of Rotterdam taking delivery of a new minibus to transport visiting crews to and from their ships.

Bought with the aid of a grant from the International Transport Workers’ Federation Seafarers Trust, following an endorsement by Nautilus International, the new

vehicle replaces its 13-year-old predecessor which had become increasingly prone to breakdowns.

The minibus was acquired with support from Ruud Touwen, the ITF coordinator for Germany and the Netherlands, who helped the Mission to secure the best deal with the car dealer, and was ‘blessed’ by port chaplain Rev Stephen Hazlett before entering into service.

Nautilus helps to secure a new minibus for Rotterdam Mission

UK consults over STCW shake-up

Dutch dredger has major Gibdock refi tA

The Dutch-fl agged trailing suction hopper dredger Lelystad

is pictured at the Gibdock shipyard in Gibraltar where it has undergone an extensive refi t programme.

Work on the 12,196gt Van Oord vessel included repairing and renewing around 300 sq m of doubler plates inside the hopper, with damaged plates removed and new plates welded into place. In total around 15.2 tonnes of steel was replaced.

The project was one of the biggest undertaken by Gibdock this year and took almost 40 days to complete — with pipe, mechanical and painting work, as well as an extensive overhaul of the deck crane.

Gibdock removed and replaced the vessel’s tailshaft and coupling, fi tted more than 170m of new pipework, a new MOB structure, comprising a walkway, platform, boat cradle and davit support pillar, and installed 19 new bridge windows.

This was the second time the 1986-built Lelystad had been drydocked in Gibraltar, following a visit in 2008.

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Don’t miss out on opportunities just because you’re at sea

FA man who started a fi re onboard a DFDS ferry in the

North Sea while trying to light a cannabis bong in his cabin was jailed for 11 years last month.

A total of 27 people required treatment for smoke inhalation and six had to be airlifted to safety after the blaze broke out onboard the Danish-fl agged King Seaways during a voyage from North Shields to Amsterdam last December.

Newcastle Crown Court heard that Boden George Hughes, from Sunderland, had been drinking heavily before he set a pile of clothes alight by dropping a lighter onto them. Flames soon engulfed his cabin

and smoke fi lled the corridor, with passengers having to be evacuated onto a higher deck.

Crew members attempted to tackle the blaze after the alarm was raised, but two fi re extinguishers proved ineff ective and it was eventually brought under control by the ship’s sprinkler system. The ship, which had a total of 946 passengers and 127 crew onboard, had to return to the North Shields terminal.

The court heard DFDS had to pay £80,000 for repairs, £30,000 deviation costs, £25,000 medical evacuation costs, £475,000 for passenger liabilities, lost £170,000 in revenue and had to pay £25,000

legal costs.Sentencing Mr Hughes to nine

years for arson and aff ray, as well as two years for his involvement in a copper cable theft conspiracy, Judge James Goss QC described his actions as a ‘spectacular piece of recklessness’ which could have had disastrous consequences. ‘Fires on ships are even more dangerous than those on land,’ he pointed out. ‘The escape routes are limited and the stability of the vessel can be aff ected by the use of water.’

Mr Hughes pleaded guilty to the charges after his lawyers failed in an attempt to argue that the court had no jurisdiction in his case because the incident took place at sea.

FThe master of a windfarm support boat has been ordered

to pay £3,000 in fi nes and costs after colliding with a turbine off the Norfolk cost in 2012.

Geoff rey Whinfrey pleaded guilty at Southampton Magistrates Court last month to breaches of Rule 5 of the international collision prevention regulations. He was fi ned £1,000, plus £2,000 in costs.

Mr Whinfrey was in command of the 17m vessel Island Panther when it struck a turbine in the Sheringham Shoal windfarm on 21 November 2012. The court heard that the collision had occurred during the hours of darkness, with rough seas and winds gusting up to 45mph.

Mr Whinfrey had been requested by the windfarm operator — Scira Off shore Energy — to take workers ashore as a result of worsening weather conditions. But passage plans had not been completed for any part of the journey and an investigation determined that the accident happened because he was relying solely on the turbine safety lights to navigate through the windfarm and he failed to make good use of the lookout and navigation equipment onboard.

The court heard that Mr Whinfrey had failed to notice that one of the turbine towers’ lights was not illuminated and the vessel hit the tower head-on at approximately 12 knots. Five people onboard were injured and the vessel was badly damaged.

Following the case, Maritime & Coastguard Agency surveyor Captain Peter Maynard commented: ‘Mr Whinfrey relied heavily on the lights of the turbine towers to navigate through the wind farm against company policy. He displayed poor seamanship by failing to keep a proper lookout by all available means appropriate in the prevailing circumstances. It was very lucky that no one was seriously hurt.’

Changes will cut ‘drink-drive’ limits

10-11_news.indd 11 24/09/2014 17:05

HEALTH & SAFETY


Disappointment as IMO fails to debate plan to cut losses

PConversion work to increase the capacity of a Maersk containership

may have affected its ability to operate safely in adverse weather conditions, an accident investiga-tion has concluded.

A total of 517 boxes were lost overboard and a further 250 damaged when the 92,198gt Svendborg Maersk encountered unexpectedly extreme winds and waves off the French coast in Feb-ruary this year.

The Danish-registered vessel rolled by as much as 41° in storm force 11 conditions and reported wave heights of up to 13.4m off the Ushant Islands and at one stage the general alarm was sounded

and crew mustered because of concerns about the safety of the ship.

A Danish Marine Accident Investigation Board report notes that the conditions were much worse than forecast when the ship left Rotterdam — with wave heights almost twice as high as those predicted by the Ship Per-formance Optimisation System (SPOS).

‘From the weather informa-tion readily available to the master in the SPOS application prior to departure, there were no indications that the conditions on the voyage would exceed the ship’s capability to operate safely without immediate danger to the

crew members, ship and cargo,’ the report adds. ‘Based on the master’s experience, there were no indications in the available weather information to encour-age a decision to take weather routeing advice on the forthcom-ing voyage.’

Investigators said they had been unable to determine whether the extreme rolling was caused by parametric resonance or single waves that were differ-ent from the predominant wave pattern — or both.

But they found that the major-ity of the containers lost over-board were from positions where they were stacked to eight or nine tiers’ height.

The high stacking may have contributed to the consequences, the report notes, and initiatives including the conversion of the vessel in 2012 to increase capacity may also have affected the ship’s capability to withstand adverse weather conditions.

Lashing gear for as many as 700 containers was found to have been damaged during the inci-dent and analysis showed that 442 of the boxes lost overboard were empty.

The report notes that Maersk Line has taken a series of safety measures in response to the inci-dent, including heavy weather training for its masters and upgrading its weather service.

Ship hit by waves that were twice the forecast sizeStacking heights may have increased container losses, investigation reveals

ANautilus has expressed its disappointment at the failure of an International Maritime

Organisation sub-committee to consider a paper submitted by France and Spain proposing measures to cut the number of containers being lost overboard.

The joint paper noted the recent increase in the number of boxes lost off the coast of both countries. Last winter saw a record of 598 losses in the area, of which only 21 were recovered, and this accounted for almost 15% of the global total.

Citing the Svendborg Maersk case, it warned of the threats to maritime safety and the environment posed by lost containers — in particular as a

consequence of the poor quality of information from ships about the number of losses and their position.

It also pointed out that some container stacks can be as high as 20m from the main deck and that containers placed at the top of fallen stacks, subjected to high acceleration, were attached only by pivoting bolts.

The paper proposed the establishment of a compulsory system of standardised reporting of lost containers and onboard methods to easily identify the exact number of losses. It also called for research into ways of improving the securing of containers, as well as tracking those carrying dangerous goods.

However, the IMO’s sub-committee on the

carriage of cargoes and containers ruled that the proposals could not be considered as they amounted to a ‘substantive issue requiring an unplanned output’ and the paper will have to be re-submitted to the IMO’s maritime safety committee.

Nautilus senior national secretary Allan Graveson said he was very disappointed that the ‘useful and informative’ paper had not been discussed. ‘We are concerned that the Tonnage Measurement Convention, together with commercial pressures, are making containerships increasingly unsafe,’ he added. ‘When such losses occur, in addition to dangers presented to other marine users, there is a potential danger to the vessel.’

Crewman lost from ship off Immingham

AA safety expert has expressed concern about a fresh case

involving the death of a seafarer during berthing operations.

An able seaman onboard the Maltese-fl agged containership CGM CMA Pegasus died in August last year when he was struck by a mooring rope while the ship was preparing to leave the port of Dalian, in China.

Accident investigators said the seafarer had suff ered serious and fatal head injuries when the rope jumped off the roller guide and that incorrect layout of the rope may have caused it to come off the pedestal roller.

The Transport Malta report on the incident also highlights teamwork and communications issues, noting that neither the third mate nor the bosun warned the crew when the rope was about to become taut. It also pointed out that the location of the winch controls prevented a direct line of sight between the operator and the mooring rope handlers.

Captain John Rose, of the Confi dential Human Incident Reporting Programme, said the incident had once again highlighted the risks associated with mooring operations. ‘As I read the report I was left with the impression that there appeared to have been a lack of appreciation and application of comprehensive risk assessments by those bodies that approved the original design of the mooring

station — including regulators, manufacturer/ ship builder, classifi cation society and the ship owner,’ he added.

‘Should the ship owner, the classifi cation society and marine insurers be more concerned about the risk of similar malpractices and that a poor design is not being rectifi ed by simply replacing the roller with a larger fl ange on the top edge of the roller?’ he asked. ‘I do not have a strong feeling that the lessons learned from this tragic incident will be applied to other ships in the owner’s fl eet or widely across the industry. For the owner, this is a low cost solution that could prevent a high-cost incident, let alone the emotional distress encountered by family and friends of the injured party.’

Capt Rose said the report had identifi ed caution over the use of mooring rope snap-back zones. ‘Although the snap-back zones had been incorrectly marked, the investigation determined that these did not contribute directly to the accident,’ he added.

‘Should the crew members rely on these marked zones, they might be lulled into a false sense of security and may actually fi nd themselves exposed to hazards by the very same things that are intended to warn them against the hazards related to mooring and unmooring operations,’ Capt Rose pointed out.

Svendborg Maersk arrives in port after encountering a damaging storm last December Picture: Thorsten Klein

Report raises fresh concern at rope risks

AA major search and rescue operation was mounted in the

Humber estuary last month when an 18-year-old Indonesian seafarer went missing from a Dutch-fl agged containership bound for the UK port of Immingham.

More than 20 commercial vessels joined RNLI lifeboats and an RAF rescue helicopter in the hunt for the crewman after the master of the 5,067gt Freya reported that the crewman had gone overboard in the Humber estuary. But the operation was called off when no trace of the man was found after seven hours.

The Apostleship of the Sea provided support to the Dutch, Russian and Indonesian crew when the vessel arrived in port.

Incorrect and inadequate snap-back zones identifi ed in the investigation into the fatal accident onboard CGM CMA Pegasus Picture: Transport Malta

12-13_h+s.indd 12 24/09/2014 16:37

HEALTH & SAFETY


FLast month marked the 20th anniversary of the Estonia ferry

disaster, in which more than 850 passengers and crew died when the 15,559gt ro-ro sank in a Baltic storm.

Per Nordström, who worked for the Swedish Shipowners’ Association, Stena Line and the Swedish Maritime Administration, has taken stock of safety onboard passenger ferries today and concludes that a lot happened in the wake of the disaster — but it can now be harder to spot.

‘Pretty much no stone was left unturned’ in terms of safety after the disaster, he writes. Safety regulations had already been tightened up after such incidents as the Scandinavian Star and the Herald of Free Enterprise, but many more were introduced after Estonia. Stability, fi re safety, life-saving, evacuation, communications, navigation and training were all addressed and the introduction of a quality-assurance system was speeded up.

Nowadays the focus is on the environment, Mr Nordström says, but what strikes him is the increased emphasis on self-inspection. ‘For the most part this is a sound development,’ he adds. ‘But it hasn’t always gone far enough, as the Costa Concordia accident shows.’

He was struck by the lack of safety information when he travelled as a ferry passenger, adding that it appears that information leafl ets are not provided in cabins any more.

Regarding self-inspection, he wonders if it is suffi cient and eff ective. ‘I hope so, but it is diffi cult to work out what is being done,’ he adds. ‘It would be disastrous if a lack of resources, interest or ignorance within the shipping company, the class or the authority was the indirect cause of an accident.’

Estonia expert’s caution

PThe master of a UK-fl agged general cargo-ship has been criticised

for allowing an inexperienced offi cer to take a night-time bridge watch by himself as the vessel sailed through the Dover Strait.

Accident investigators said it was ‘astonishing’ that the second offi cer — who had been in charge of only 10 bridge watches since qualifying as an OOW six months earlier — had been entrusted with the con.

They found that the 20-year-old had experienced ‘a complete loss of situational awareness’ before his vessel, Carisbrooke Shipping’s 2,998gt Paula C col-lided with the 81,874dwt bulk car-rier Darya Gayatri in the SW lane of the traffi c separation scheme in December last year.

Both vessels were damaged in the incident, but no one was injured and there was no pollu-tion.

The UK Marine Accident Inves-tigation Branch (MAIB) said the Paula C’s OOW had been seek-ing to avoid a fi shing vessel after incorrectly assessing that his ship was the give-way vessel. A series of signifi cant fl uctuations in Paula C’s course showed he ‘was not coping with the demands of the

situation and that he did not know what to do’.

The report said the offi cer — who had taken only four solo bridge watches before the acci-dent — had been oblivious to the presence of the bulker less than 600m off his ship’s starboard

beam when he made a further course alteration. Unsupported and without experience to draw upon, the second offi cer quickly became overloaded.

The Russian master’s decision to allow the offi cer to work alone at night was ‘ill-judged and con-

trary to international require-ments’, it added. ‘The offi cer was very inexperienced and he had not yet developed suffi cient com-petency to keep a bridge watch in the Dover Strait at night by him-self.’

Investigators said the OOW’s

decision-making may have been infl uenced by a ‘well-intended’ radio call from Dover Coastguard asking him if he was ‘going to do a three-sixty?’ Had the Coastguard simply asked the offi cer ‘what is your intention?’ it would have made his uncertainty apparent, the report added.

The MAIB said the offi cer had failed to effectively use ARPA or AIS data to maintain a proper lookout, and it suggested that if both ships had made use of sound signals the accident might have been avoided.

The report makes no rec-ommendations, noting that Carisbrooke Shipping and the Merchant Navy Training Board have taken steps to improve the training and development of jun-ior offi cers and the Maritime & Coastguard Agency has reminded CNIS operators of the need to use standard marine communica-tions phrases.

Nautilus senior national secre-tary Allan Graveson commented: ‘An inexperienced offi cer has been failed by an industry and regula-tory authority that increasingly relies on the issuance of CECs for senior personnel. The lack of any positive recommendation in this area is disappointing.’

Inexperienced OOW ‘lost control’ in TSSReport criticises ‘astonishing’ decision to give recently-qualifi ed offi cer sole control in Channel

AThe International Maritime Organisation has agreed

a proposed new safety code for ships powered by gas or other low fl ashpoint fuels.

It is hoped that the long-awaited draft IGF Code will be adopted at the IMO’s maritime safety committee meeting next month.

The Code aims to set down rules governing the arrangement, installation, control and monitoring of machinery, equipment and systems using low fl ashpoint fuels such as liquefi ed natural gas (LNG), to minimise the risk to the ship, its crew and the environment.

Forming an amendment to the SOLAS Convention, it will apply to new ships and to existing vessels converting from the use of conventional oil fuel to gas or other low-fl ashpoint fuels, and is based on a goal-based approach to the design, construction and operation of ships.

The IMO has agreed to conduct further work to develop guidelines for ships using ethyl or methyl alcohol as fuel, along with measures to ensure that vessels using fuel cells or low-fl ashpoint diesel oil are also covered by the IGF Code.

Report warns on risks

FPictured above is the UK Coastguard’s new National

Maritime Operations Centre (NMOC), which swung into operational action for the fi rst time last month.

The NMOC has been created to oversee and assist with operations around the whole of the UK. A process to transfer key operations from centres around the country

began last month with the handover from Solent Coastguard, followed by Portland Coastguard.

When complete, the changes will see the NMOC and 10 other Coastguard Operation Centres around the UK working together to manage workloads, providing an in-depth national support network in major search and rescue incidents.

The new national network is scheduled to be fully operational by the end of 2015, and the Maritime & Coastguard Agency stresses that there will be no reduction in rescue resources. A total of 47 coastguards are now based at the new centre, near Fareham, and when the national network is complete, 96 coastguards will work there.

Coastguards move to new centre

New IMO fuel code F

Investigators looking into a fatal accident onboard a freight ro-ro

ship earlier this year have stressed the need for companies to continually reassess their hazard identifi cation and risk analysis processes.

A stevedore died onboard the 20,343gt Tasmanian Achiever when he was struck by a container-carrying roll-trailer, which was being pushed by a tractor driven by a colleague during cargo discharge work in the port of Melbourne.

In a report on the incident, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said crew members had assumed the stevedore had seen the approaching trailer, but he failed to hear their warning calls when they saw he was in its direct path.

The ATSB noted that work is underway to address the safety issues underlying the accident, but it stressed the need for the industry to review risk controls in the light of changing technologies.

Damage to the Paula C following the collision in the Channel in December last year Picture: MAIB

12-13_h+s.indd 13 24/09/2014 16:00


INTERNATIONAL

shortreportsALGERIAN ADDITIONS: Algeria has announced plans to spend DZD120bn ($1.48bn) on revamping its merchant fl eet with the purchase of 27 vessels, including two passenger vessels and 25-cargo-carrying ships. Rabia Lounis, president of the state-owned shipping company SGP-Gestramar, said the government is aiming to have a fl eet capable of handling a quarter of the country’s maritime trade by 2020.

CRUISE DEAL: Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) has announced a US$3bn deal to acquire Prestige Cruises International, which owns two brands: Oceania Cruises in the upper premium sector and Regent Seven Seas in the luxury sector. NCL— the world’s third largest cruiseship company —operates 13 ships, with four newbuildings on order. Oceania owns fi ve ships and Regent has three ships.

SECURITY ALARM: the western France branch of the CGT maritime union has criticised the lack of security and environmental protection in the port of Brest following a fi re onboard the containership Captain Tsarev, which has been abandoned for six years in a ‘secure zone’. Firefi ghters took 12 hours to put out the fi re, which is thought to have been the result of arson.

FINNISH GROWTH: Finland’s merchant fl eet has been boosted by 1.9m gt in the fi rst half of the year, the country’s owners’ association revealed last month. The owners say that all their new tonnage built since 2010 has been put on the national fl ag, and the fl eet has also been boosted by ships being switched from the Swedish register.

GROUNDING PROBED: authorities in Greece are investigating the cause of an incident in which the 52,400dwt bulk carrier ran aground at Astypalaia in the Aegean Sea last month. The Turkish-fl agged Ince Inebolu was en route from Yemen to Russia when it hit rocks. The vessel was later refl oated without any pollution.

TERMINAL WORK: the German port of Hamburg has begun work on its third cruise terminal. The 10,000sq m facility in Kronprinzakai will be capable of handling 8,000 passengers at same time. The port expects to handle some 600,000 passengers in 187 cruiseship calls this year.

ITALIAN DEAL: the Italian ferry operator Tirrenia has clinched a new agreement with the state on lifeline shipping services between the mainland and the island of Sardinia. The company says it plans to charter two large, fast ro-ro ships to operate the route.

EARLY START: ship traffi c using the Northern Sea Route started a fortnight earlier this year than in 2013, with Sovcomfl ot’s 47,000dwt Anichkov Bridge the fi rst large capacity tanker to transit the Arctic Ocean passage this year.

DRUGS BUST: Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta has overseen an operation to blow up a ship caught off the country’s coast with heroin worth US$11.3m onboard.

AFrench maritime unions have expressed concern about a

move by the ferry operator LD Lines to suspend its ‘motorway of the sea’ service between the French port of Montoir and Gijón in northern Spain.

The Louis Dreyfus Armateurs subsidiary stopped sailings on the route last month, claiming it was no longer economically viable — despite healthy passenger and freight numbers — because of the loss of European Union subsidies.

The company made the announcement while it was in the midst of discussions with the French

and Spanish governments about the future of the service. The operator said it had been running at 72% of capacity this year, but this was insuffi cient to reach profi tability and an annual €6m was needed to balance the books.

‘We cannot increase rates in an ultra-competitive road transport market and shortsea shipping cannot function without subsidies,’ said LD Lines president Christophe Santoni.

Launched in 2010, the three-times-a-week service was a fl agship operation for the EU’s motorways of the sea project to shift freight off Europe’s busy roads. Last year LD

Lines carried 20,000 lorries, 30,000 Renault cars and 50,000 passengers on the route.

The company has been receiving a total of €30m annual support from the French and Spanish governments and a further €4m from the EU’s Marco Polo fund.

The CGT maritime union’s western France branch said that it was concerned by the move. Transferring lorries from the roads to ships is not only greener but is also safer, it pointed out. Owners said the EU’s low-sulphur rules are threatening to put more freight back on the land.

Concern as LD Lines suspends ‘motorway of the sea’ route

by Jeff Apter

PSeafaring unions and shipowners in France have called for urgent

talks with the country’s newly-appointed shipping minister — warning that time is rapidly running out if the government is serious about supporting the fl eet.

Both sides of the industry have raised concern over a list of issues that mirror the problems facing their UK counterparts — includ-ing low-cost foreign competition, training and employment for young seafarers, and the threat to the ferry sector.

The cabinet reshuffl e at the end of August saw the previous minis-ter Frédéric Cuvillier replaced by Alain Vidalies. FOMM-CGT union

leader Jean-Philippe Chateil said Mr Cuvillier’s lack of interest in maritime matters had resulted in the government failing to take the necessary action for the maritime sector.

The CGT offi cers’ and ratings’ unions have written to the new minister seeking an early meeting on shipping issues, warning that there has been no policy progress since the present government was elected in June 2012.

Capt Chateil said the most pressing issues concern the pas-senger ferry sector and especially the low-cost competition from Corsica Ferries, with ships on the Italian second register, against the French-fl agged operator SNCM. Unions are also worried about developments affecting Brittany Ferries and MyFerryLink, as well

as the precarious situation of the public service Dieppe-Newhaven.

‘If these subjects are not dealt with very urgently it could spell the end of French seafaring employment,’ Mr Chateil warned.

The unions also want talks on prospects for jobs and the French fl ag in offshore renewables sec-tor and to get the government to deliver on a promise to extend rules requiring French oil car-goes to be carried on national fl ag ships.

Job opportunities for cadets from the re-founded national maritime academy were also seriously lacking. Mr Chateil has protested to the French contain-ership operator CMA CGM after a union offi cial visiting one of the company’s vessels recently ‘was surprised to fi nd just one cadet

onboard and that person was Romanian’.

At a time when so many French cadets are seeking berths as part of their training, it is a ‘scandal’ that an operator of CMA CGM’s size does not deliver a new gen-eration of French offi cers, he said. ‘Is it too much to ask that taking on French cadets should be a pri-ority?’

Eric Banel, general secretary of the French owners’ association (AdF), said he is ‘increasingly con-cerned’ that nothing is being done to stem the decline of the French fl eet, with the national fl ag losing 30 ships in the fi rst half of the year.

The owners have called for the new minister to make ‘rapid decisions’ to address the prob-lems and to head off the threat to employment in the ferry sector.

French industry in call for fleet action

FAustralian seafarers have urged the country’s government not

to press ahead with moves to relax rules governing the country’s coastal shipping trades.

The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) has warned that Australian jobs, the maritime skills base and the environment could be at risk if the regulations are watered down.

The MUA fears the government is planning to scrap the rules — which

were introduced in 2012 in an eff ort to reverse a decline which had seen the Australian-fl agged fl eet decline to just 21 ships. Such a move would pose a direct threat to around 2,000 jobs, it warns.

General secretary Paddy Crumlin said Australia needs a strong merchant fl eet and it would be an act of political stupidity to change the laws. ‘Australia is the fourth largest user of ships in the world,’ he added.

‘The industry employs thousands of Australians and cannot be allowed to fail. Shipping is essential to national security and we cannot allow essential skills to be placed in the hands of non-Australian interests.

‘We need to maintain a regulatory framework that provides an access regime built on the principle of fair competition,’ he said. ‘What we don’t want to see is more fl ag of convenience ships.’

New minister is warned that future of maritime employment is in danger

SNCM jobs fears grow as bosses seek cuts

Australian attack on coastal rules

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LD Lines has suspended its ‘motorway of the sea’ service between France and Spain Picture: Eric Houri ATwo months after the end of a strike to save jobs and

safeguard the future of the French ferry fi rm SNCM, seafaring unions are continuing to campaign against cuts in the company’s Mediterranean services.

Unions met management last month to discuss their concerns about a ‘survival plan’ drawn up in the wake of a European Court ruling upholding a €289m fi ne for ‘illicit’ aid given to the company around the time it was privatised in the 1990s.

Managing director Olivier Diehl has proposed that SNCM be liquidated after the mediation process culminates on 28 October. He said the fl eet would be reduced from eight to six ferries. Four ships would serve France-Corsica routes under SNCM’s recently renewed 10-year lifeline agreement and two would sail on France-North Africa routes.

Unions fear the reduced fl eet would need between 800 to 1,000 seafarers, half the current workforce. It is unclear who would be responsible for any redundancy packages and the CFE-CGC offi cers’ union has condemned the lack of detail on key issues. CGT offi cers’ union leader Jean-Philippe Chateil said he was seeking a meeting with the new shipping minister.

zFrench seafaring unions have written to the country’s new transport minister to call for urgent talks on new tonnage for the Channel operator Brittany Ferries. They are concerned about the company’s decision to suspend, for an unspecifi ed period, an order for a new LNG-powered ferry, due to have been delivered in December 2016.

14-15_int.indd 14 24/09/2014 16:00

shortreportsINDIAN AID: the National Union of Seafarers of India has welcomed a move by the country’s government to introduce a new system of income tax concessions for seafarers. The revised rules will allow rebates to be made on the basis of service on Indian-fl agged ships operating in coastal waters as well as for periods deepsea. The initiative has been taken in a bid to help the country’s shipowners to retain Indian crews on domestic-fl agged shipping.

PORT PRAISE: for the third year running, the World Economic Forum has ruled that the Netherlands has world’s best port infrastructure. The forum’s new global competitiveness report puts Singapore’s port in second place, with the United Arab Emirates replacing Hong Kong in third position. While Belgium stays at number six, Germany has dropped from ninth to 14th place.

MERGER BACKED: the European Commission has given conditional approval to the planned merger between the Germany containership operator Hapag Lloyd and Chile’s CSAV. Its approval is conditional on the withdrawal of CSAV from the Euroandes and Ecuador Express consortia to prevent competitive distortion.

CARBON CUTS: the container shipping industry managed to cut CO2 emissions per container transported by an average of 7.7% in 2013, a new study of more than 2,900 ships has shown. Maersk Line says it has reduced CO2 emissions by 12% per container-km in 2013 alone and by more than 34% since 2007.

DANISH JOBS: the maritime sector accounts for 4% of all jobs in Denmark, a new government report has revealed. Almost 110,000 people are employed directly and indirectly by the sector, it says, and Danish maritime companies create almost double the income per employee than the national average.

GAS DELIVERY: French fi rm GDF Suez has signed an agreement with Mitsubishi and NYK to build a ship to deliver liquid natural gas to LNG-powered vessels. The vessel will be built in South Korea, with delivery set for the second half of 2016. It will operate in the Baltic and North Sea and be based at Zeebrugge.

MSC RECRUITS: MSC Cruises has launched a major four-year recruitment plan for 6,000 new crew members. The company says it will be looking for 250 deck and engineer offi cers in the programme, which aims to match its fl eet expansion which will double capacity by 2022.

SWEDISH PROTEST: Swedish owners and seafaring unions have published a joint appeal for the country’s government to set policy goals — including the long-awaited introduction of a tonnage tax — to reverse the decline in the country’s shipping industry.

CREW RESCUED: 14 seafarers were rescued by a helicopter sent from Hong Kong when the Chinese-registered general cargoship Hao Jun started to sink in adverse conditions off the coast of Macau last month.


INTERNATIONAL

Philippines plan to be shipping’s ‘go-to’ spot

P Seafarers and ship-owners in Canada have condemned a trade

agreement with Europe which, they claim, will destroy jobs by enabling foreign competitors to operate in some of the country’s key coastal services.

They have warned that the Canadian-European Comprehen-sive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) will open up important shipping routes in the Great Lakes and St Lawrence river to Euro-pean operators with no reciprocal access to EU trades.

‘This agreement will have a severe negative impact on the Canadian maritime industry by opening domestic trade to for-eign carriers, doing away with our cabotage laws,’ said James Given, president of the Seafarers’ Inter-national Union (SIU) of Canada. ‘This is the most serious threat that we have ever faced in our industry.’

The free trade deal would allow European operators to carry empty containers in Canadian waters, bid on dredging projects, and to carry cargo between Hali-fax and Montreal, the union said.

The European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) has also expressed concern over the agreement, warning that it could jeopardise jobs and regulations on both sides of the Atlantic.

The ETF said it was opposed to the opening up of domestic cabo-tage arrangements in countries like Canada and the US — in fact, it argued, EU lawmakers should look at providing similar meas-ures in Europe to protect the dwindling maritime skills base.

‘Without European seafar-ers, there can be no European maritime cluster,’ said Nautilus general secretary Mark Dickin-son, spokesman for the seafarers’ side of the EU social dialogue committee.

‘Likewise in the USA and Canada, it is diffi cult to compre-hend how the domestic shipping industry can survive if the meas-ures currently being proposed are implemented.’

SIU criticised the lack of trans-parency surrounding the CETA trade deal and said the agreement will allow European-fl agged and EU benefi cially owned fl ag of con-venience vessels to trade freely between Canadian ports without any restrictions on crew national-ity, or on pay and working condi-tions.

Around 44,000 people work in the Great Lakes and St Lawrence shipping industry, and at present Canadian legislation requires almost all ships operating in the coastal trades to fl y the country’s fl ag and to be crewed by Canadian nationals.

SIU warned that relaxing the rules would halt the growth of the Canadian shipping industry, and

safety in the fragile ecosystems of the Great Lakes and St Lawrence Seaway could be put at risk.

‘Our mariners possess unique local knowledge that ensures that Canadian waters are safely trans-ited, respected and protected,’ added Canadian Shipowners’ Association president Robert Lewis-Manning. ‘We need to ensure that these jobs remain in Canada.’

But the Canadian government has insisted that the deal is over-whelmingly good for the coun-try and the shipping industry. It claims the country’s merchant fl eet will benefi t from a projected increase in trade with Europe.

The government also pointed out that the agreement would ‘ensure a level playing fi eld for Canadian shipping companies’ and that all existing safety, secu-rity and environmental regula-tions would apply to foreign ves-sels and their crews.

Canadian alarm at EU trade dealJobs at risk as agreement threatens to open up coastal trades, unions warn

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Scottish support for new Angolan training centreA

The Stena Group, the City of Glasgow College’s maritime

faculty and Northern Marine Management have worked together to launch a new ‘world class’ seafarer training facility in Angola, pictured above.

Said to be the most modern maritime campus in Africa, the Centro De Formação Maritima De Angola (CFMA) was offi cially opened at the end of August.

It aims to provide qualifi ed local crews to meet Angola’s future needs for maritime expertise, and will train up to 200 cadets a year.

Developed with support from the Stena Group and the state-owned

energy fi rm Sonangol, who jointly operate a pool of 23 large crude oil tankers, the CFMA has been built on a greenfi eld site some 360km south of Luanda.

Northern Marine Management led the project management team responsible for the design, build and pre-operational phase of the centre, and delivery of the state of the art campus.

City of Glasgow College will ensure compliance with STCW requirements and support IMO ‘white list’ accreditation.

Captain John Lloyd, head of centre in Angola, said: ‘Our cadets studying on-site will have access

to some of the best facilities in the world, including the latest navigational equipment and lifeboat training.’

Students will complete their fi rst year of study in Angola and their second year in Glasgow, with the course approved by the UK Maritime & Coastguard Agency. During the fi rst fi ve years trainee numbers will be progressively increased, with CFMA also able to off er many short and specialised courses to the wider maritime industry.

The programme also aims to develop Angolan maritime academic staff who will ultimately take over the running of the centre.

AThe Philippines has developed a plan to become the global ‘go-to

location’ for shipping companies, maritime authority offi cials told a conference in London last month.

Gerardo Borromeo, from Philippine Transmarine Carriers, said the country’s government had adopted a package of policies aiming to build up the national maritime infrastructure and enhance its position as ‘the seafarer capital of the world’.

Seafarers are essential for the country’s economy, he added, and Filipinos account for almost 30% of the world’s maritime labour market. In response to concerns raised by the European Maritime Safety Agency, the Philippines has introduced a single new maritime industry authority with tougher controls over training institutions, he added.

Dr Max Mejia, the head of the authority, said there has been a ‘paradigm shift’ in STCW implementation, with an integrated approach to eliminate confused chains of responsibility and more rigorous systems for seafarer certifi cation.

The Philippines has also revised its seafarer training curricula, with improved methods of demonstrating competence and tighter controls over onboard training, he added.

As well as being committed to maintaining its position as the world’s biggest supplier of seafarers, Dr Meija said the country is seeking to become a global centre for all sorts of other shipping services, including registration, management, and shipbuilding.

14-15_int.indd 15 24/09/2014 16:00

YOUR LETTERS


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Tell your colleagues in Nautilus International — and the wider world of shipping. Keep your letter to a maximum 300 words if you can — though longer contributions will be considered. Use a pen name or just your membership number if you don’t want to be identifi ed — say so in an accompanying note — but you must let the Telegraph have your name, address and membership number. Send your letter to the Editor, Telegraph, Nautilus International, 1&2 The Shrubberies, George Lane, South Woodford,London E18 1BD, or use head offi ce fax +44 (0)20 8530 1015, or email [email protected]

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Tell your colleagues in Nautilus International — and the wider world of shipping. Keep your letter to a maximum 300 words if you can — though longer contributions will be considered.

Use a pen name or just your membership number if you don’t want to be identifi ed — say so in an accompanying note —

but you must let the Telegraph have your name, address and membership number.

Send your letter to the Editor, Telegraph, Nautilus International, 1&2 The Shrubberies, George Lane, South Woodford, London E18 1BD, or use head offi ce fax +44 (0)20 8530 1015, or email [email protected]

What’s on your mind?

Last month we asked: Do you think the quality of newbuild ships has decreased in recent years?

Have your say online

This month’s poll asks: Would you recommend a career at sea to a young person? Give us your views online, at nautilusint.org

Yes84%

No16%

Rot starts with the factoryF

I was a bit dismayed to see this fl ag lying on the bridge

of my vessel recently and thought it summed up the situation nicely following the articles submitted about the red ensign.RICK BRINT mem no 171040

VJ Day brought back memoriesP

I attended the VJ Day commemorative service

in Mariners’ Park (September Telegraph, page 18) in memory of my parents. I am not a veteran, but as a young boy I was evacuated together with my mother from Shanghai where I had spent my early childhood.

The evacuation took place shortly before Pearl Harbour and we got as far as Manila Bay when we were attacked while at anchor. The ship alongside was sunk, while we were strafed. After a stressful voyage we left the ship in Melbourne — but not before the women onboard had made a presentation to the master, Captain Frame, as a thank you for bringing us to a place of safety.

With my mother, I spent the rest of the war in Tasmania.

My father was interned during those years, fi nally rejoining us after being fl own from Hong Kong to Australia in a RAF Dakota — a story in itself! We returned to the UK in the Aquitania, the grand old lady being full of ex-POWs, internees, evacuees, etc.

After another spell in Shanghai, I spent two years on the Conway, then to sea with Brocklebanks before coming ashore to work for the MNAOA, MMSA and NUMAST.

I believe that, as with so many others, it was that wartime experience which shaped my later life. That service in Mariners’ Park certainly stirred some memories.DEREK BONDmem no 175019

Change of scene but same old dodgy practices

DDuring my stay in Central America in August, I found

these ‘missers’ onboard local seagoing vessels. The crew have to comply with the STCW Convention, but items like the IMO number or

a navigation/position light seems not to be taken very seriously according to the international rules.PETER JAGERShip visitor, Rotterdam

Appeal to fi nd last UK indentured apprentice

Stick to what you know!

Southwest MN ceremony took lyrical turn this year

Most readers are seafarers or were at sea for a time. I should be grateful for their help in fi nding the last British apprentice who, I believe, may have signed indentures some time after about 1970.

To assist my research I have made enquiries at the national archives, at Greenwich Maritime Museum and with the Registrar of Shipping and Seamen, but so far without success. I would welcome an email from anyone who can throw some light on the subject and especially from those who signed indentures in the 1970s or who can put me in touch with anyone who did.

While I may not be able to fi nd the ‘last’ British apprentice, I hope to learn of those whose apprenticeship commenced in that fi nal era. Captain BARRY THOMPSONEmail: [email protected]

I do not believe that Tommy Molloy has been given a remit to pass comments about the confl ict in Gaza. I understand he does an excellent job as an ITF inspector and he should stick to that role. His appreciation of the compassion by Liverpool port workers is heart-warming. May I suggest were he to mention Gaza to them, they may in fact refer him back to St James’s Park, Newcastle, or White Hart Lane in Tottenham.

As for the tagging study for passengers, may I suggest that an hour after sundown a considerable percentage will in fact be naked. I am curious as to the location of the tagging device!PETER BENNISONmem no 061154

PNumerous MN veterans gathered in Plymouth, SW England last

month for the annual Merchant Navy Day remembrance ceremony. During the 4 September service, wreaths were laid at the Plymouth Barbican to honour the fallen of both world wars, and many poignant and emotional

moments were shared. A particularly powerful feature of

this year’s event was the reading of a poem about the merchant marine, and this has been sent in to share with Telegraph readers by Baz Gregory of the Plymouth and Southwest MN and Seafarers Association.

Men of the Merchant MarineBy Eleanor L. NealFirst published in Polaris Magazine, U. S. Merchant Marine Academy, August 1942They are men who go down to the sea in ships,With courage and faith serene, Sailing with cargoes on hazardous tripsTo the distant battle scene. In the far-fl ung theatres of war,Our allied soldiers pray That merchant ships with new suppliesAre speeding on their way. On perilous seas our merchant menGrimly await their fate. Silent and tense, their only hopeThey will not arrive too late. Exposed to bombs from the open sky,And torpedoes hurled through the sea,Over all the wide sea lanes they sail In sight of the enemy.Adrift on rafts, in the lonely seas, They watch their shipmates die,Yet fearlessly they carry on, ‘Keep ‘Em Sailing’ is their cry.They linger not in foreign ports, But hurry back for more,No martial music heralds them As they step upon our shore.For them there are no big parades, No heroes’ welcome gay,No uniforms, and no applause To cheer them on their way.But they are heroes, too, these men Who sail the seven seas,Our hats are off to their valiant crews,For unsung victories.They are the men who go down to the sea in ships,With courage and faith serene, ‘God Speed You All’ is the prayer on our lips,For the Men of the Merchant Marine.

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16-18_lets.indd 16 24/09/2014 17:03

YOUR LETTERS


ATTENTION ALL IRISH SEAFARERSARE YOU LIABLE TO PAY INCOME TAX IN IRELAND?? NEED ASSISTANCE IN FILING YOUR TAX RETURN?? 31ST OCTOBER DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS APPROACHING FAST!!

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STAFFeditor: Andrew Liningtondeputy editor: Debbie Cavaldoroproduction editor: June Cattini-Walkersenior reporter: Sarah Robinsonweb editor: Deborah McPherson

ADVERTISINGRedactive Media Group17 Britton Street, London EC1M 5TP.

Display adverts: Jude Rossettel: +44 (0)20 7880 [email protected]

Recruitment adverts: John Seamantel: +44 (0)20 7880 8541

tel: +44 (0)20 7880 6200email: [email protected]: www.redactive.co.uk

Although the Telegraph exercises care and caution before accepting advertisements, readers are advised to take appropriate professional advice before entering into any commitments such as investments (including pension plans). Publication of an advertisement does not imply any form of recommendation and Nautilus International cannot accept any liability for the quality of goods and services off ered in advertisements. Organisations off ering fi nancial services or insurance are governed by regulatory authorities and problems with such services should be taken up with the appropriate body.

Incorporating the merchant navy journal and ships telegraph

ISSN 0040 2575

Published byNautilus InternationalPrinted by Polestar Colchester2 Wyncolls Road, Severalls Industrial Park, Colchester,Essex CO4 9HU.

GENERAL SECRETARYMark Dickinson MSc (Econ)

HEAD OFFICE1&2 The ShrubberiesGeorge Lane, South Woodford London E18 1BDtel: +44 (0)20 8989 6677fax: +44 (0)20 8530 1015www.nautilusint.org

NETHERLANDS OFFICESchorpioenstraat 2663067 KW RotterdamPostbus 8575, 3009 AN Rotterdamtel: +31 (0)10 4771188fax: +31 (0)10 4773846

NORTHERN OFFICENautilus House, Mariners’ ParkWallasey CH45 7PHtel: +44 (0)151 639 8454fax: +44 (0)151 346 8801

SWITZERLAND OFFICEGewerkschaftshaus, Rebgasse 14005 Basel, Switzerlandtel: +41 (0)61 262 24 24fax: +41 (0)61 262 24 25

DEPARTMENT EMAILSgeneral:[email protected]

membership:[email protected]

legal:[email protected]

telegraph:[email protected]

industrial:[email protected]

youth:[email protected]

welfare:[email protected]

professional and technical:[email protected]

Nautilus International also administers the Nautilus Welfare Fund and the J W Slater Fund, which are registered charities.

telegraph

PI would like you to publish my generic appeal to all

operators in the North Sea to look into the provision of a respectable day rate and how to support freelance sailors in general.

I have 23 years of experience and 14 years of DP2 and DP3 class vessels, with sea service including DSC,OSV (sat dive), CSV, multi-purpose vessels, cable lay, pipelay, core drilling, ROV support, IRM support, well intervention, well stimulation, air dive, AHTs and PSVs.

One agency recently advertised for a temporary PSV chief officer operating within the UKCS. Candidates were required to hold an Unlimited Chief Officer UK COC/UK CEC and have previous PSV experience at rank, as well as a valid GMDSS, basic

STCW 95 certification and seafarer’s medical certificate, at a day rate of £266 per day, subject to UK tax and National Insurance liabilities.

I think a reasonable rate would be £350 door to door. Some companies are abusing the sailors by asking the agencies for poor rates, but some good agencies make an effort by making clients realise that experience does not come on plate and it is hard work to deliver the job safely in harsh North Sea conditions.

Enough is enough. Many sailors work freelance and pay for the course fees, spend time attending the courses, and training to meet the industry standards with no support from companies, clients hiring or any support from the agencies. They

pay for their own offshore medicals, ENG 1, offshore courses, and struggle to get time to upgrade their certificates. We pay everything from our own earnings with no support from the hiring parties — nothing like the regular offshore sea staff who are fully supported, funded by the respective employing companies.

There should be some organisation and the Union should act to address these issues. Employing agencies should be supporting freelance sailors by making their clients pay for the costs of the certificates that they are demanding. These certificates are not cheap and at least the cost should be subsidised by paying the freelance sailors a decent day rate.mem no 177628

Union should fight for freelance rights

FWZ spot on about national crewingF

I read with interest the article in the September

Telegraph about the Jones Act and the comment by general secretary Mark Dickinson regarding the European maritime policy.

A number of years ago the Dutch government formulated a proposal to abolish the requirement for the master of a vessel registered in the Netherlands and flying the Dutch flag to be a Dutch national. The Dutch union of seafarers, FWZ [a Nautilus

predecessor], lobbied successfully with the Dutch parliament at that time to prevent that proposal from being accepted.

During the Second World War the contribution by the Dutch merchant fleet to the Allied cause was the most significant contribution by our country. I wonder how this would come about in the present time with all the foreign crew members on Dutch-registered vessels and I think the same holds true for British vessels. I do not think

that one can expect foreigners to serve in times of war or international emergency for a cause which is not their own and that it could be very difficult indeed to man the vessels.

In the light of the present unsettled conditions in the world, it looks to me that this is an important issue and that Nautilus could draw attention to it. It appears that this is better understood in the USA.LOU TOUTENHOOFDRadio offi cer, rtdmem no 8167001

THE VIEW FROM MUIRHEAD

We are grateful for sponsorship, but training contracts are very one-sided

Something missing in Herald letter?

Lazy neighbours make case for EU exit

FRelating to the article about the protests over cadet ‘bonds’

in the September Telegraph: whilst reading this, I couldn’t help but think there is a simple solution to the issue raised over companies requiring cadets who do not complete training or move onto other companies after qualifying, to pay fi nes.

As a recently qualifi ed deck offi cer, I was left by my sponsoring company, (a big player in the world of containers) to fi nd a job somewhere else. I have now found myself in a position which I am sure many newly qualifi ed offi cers fi nd themselves in, where I am struggling to fi nd employment due to my lack of experience.

Would it not be sensible to create some system where newly qualifi ed offi cers are off ered the opportunity, in place of the lucky one who has found an alternative job, and risks being fi ned? That way the company still has a new offi cer and two people are employed instead of one potentially being employed paying out a fi ne and another still searching for employment.

The article raises issues of training agreements being one-sided, and I cannot agree more, although I thank my sponsors for the training and fi nancial investment they gave me, now I cannot help but think I was just used for tonnage tax. Surely a requirement for one sea going contract, as stated by Mr Graveson

in the article, to give the new offi cers some experience would not be too hard for companies to achieve. I am sure some newly qualifi ed offi cers would even consider doing it at the same rate of pay as they had during training. I know I would.mem no 200044

The Young Maritime Professionals (YMP) Forum is keen to hear from members young and not so young about their experiences of ‘transition phases’. This could be their experiences or lessons learnt when fi rst leaving home to embark on the college course, making that fi rst trip, orals preparations, fi nding your fi rst contract after qualifying and then joining ship as an offi cer for the fi rst time.

Many members of the YMP Forum have discussed these issues during meetings and have found it invaluable to hear others experiences and learn from what they found helpful and not so helpful. We would now like to broaden the discussion to hear from as many members who have been through these times as possible.

Letters to the editor, comments on the Union’s Facebook page or LinkedIn group, or even coming down to a Forum meeting to speak to the young professionals would all be welcome.MARTYN GRAYChair YMP Forum

I read with interest the letter concerning the consultation about the revocation of some UK legislation which was put in place following the Herald of Free Enterprise accident.

I am sure that the letter has been miscopied, since the phrase contained in the penultimate paragraph appears to indicate that those struggling to assist those trapped onboard had access to the contents of the emergency lockers, whereas these were a requirement after the accident.

I await a correction In due course.A C REYNOLDSmem no 111859

The editor replies: Mr Reynolds is correct. We apologise that a mistake in the production process meant that the word ‘without’ was omitted before ‘the contents of emergency equipment lockers’.

Where’s my Telegraph?If you have moved recently, your home copy may still be trying to catch up with you — particularly if you gave us a temporary address such as a hall of residence.

To let us know your new address, go to www.nautilusint.org and log in as a member, or contact our member-ship department on +44 (0)151 639 8454 or [email protected].

I read with disquiet the report about the stowaways found in a container imported from the EU and the fact that the Belgians cannot identify the lorry that delivered the load.

This is typical of the EU, and particularly our immediate neighbours across the Channel. Calais is besieged by unwanted aliens because all the French want to do is to forward them

to the UK and now it appears that the Belgians are of the same opinion.

This attitude from the EU makes a very clear case for the UK leaving and putting up proper borders again, because the EU mainland countries just allow these people to travel across more than one country and do nothing to stop the trade.

The UK is full and does not need

any more immigrants, especially while we can have our country fi lled with all the citizens of the EU with no chance of sending any back, even criminals.

My view therefore is that the Belgians knew these people were in the container and just forwarded them to the UK.JOHN BARTONmem no 137511

16-18_lets.indd 17 24/09/2014 17:57

YOUR NEWS


Complete this form and send it to:Slater Fund, The Marine Society, 202 Lambeth Road, London SE1 7JW.I am over 20 years of age and normally resident in the UK.Please send me details of the John Slater Award.

Name: _________________________________________________________________________________

Address: _______________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Email: _________________________________________________________________________________

This form is also available online at: www.nautilusint.org or email your name, address and request for Slater Fund details to: [email protected]

Fund can help you to climb career ladder

If you’re a Merchant Navy rating, electrotechnical officer or yacht crew member looking to move up the maritime career ladder, Nautilus may be able to help you…

We have just increased the value of the support on offer to help with the costs of studying for your first ticket — with up to £17,500 now available, plus a discretionary £1,500 bonus payment for those who successfully obtain an approved OOW certificate!

The support is provided through the JW Slater Fund, named in honour of a former general secretary of the Union, which has been awarded to over 1,400 seafarers since it was launched in 1997.

The scheme provides help for selected UK-resident applicants

towards the costs of any necessary full-time or part-time education, as well as some financial support during college phases for those having to go off-pay while they study for a certificate.

Administered by Nautilus International, the scheme can provide assistance worth up to £17,500 to help ratings study for their first certificate, as well as offering similar assistance for ETOs and yacht crew to gain STCW 2010 certification.

Nautilus International is now inviting applications for the 2014 Slater Fund awards.

gIf you are keen to get your officer qualifications, don’t leave things to chance. The Slater Fund is just the ticket — fill in the form or apply via the website: www.nautilusint.org

Captain Russell Fitton: a fine man and a sad loss to all

Wanted: steam engineerF

I seek your help to resolve a diffi culty with our steamship on

Loch Katrine.Following the publication of

Sir Walter Scott’s epic poem, The Lady of the Lake, set in the Trossachs and around Loch Katrine, tourism visitors increased rapidly so that the boats serving the loch — Rob Roy, 1845, and Rob Roy, 1855 — were inadequate. A larger ship was necessary.

The ss Sir Walter Scott was built in 1899 at my family’s shipyard, Wm Denny & Bros, in Dumbarton, being sent CKD up Loch Lomond and over the hills to be re-assembled at Stronachlachar on the lochside.

She has sailed every summer ever since, making her possibly the oldest steamship in the world to have been in continuous service.

Our chief engineer, ex BI, has retired — so we need a qualifi ed marine engineer, preferably with a steam ticket, to look after our ship’s original triple-expansion steam engine.

If any of your readers would like to become involved on a full or part-time basis, we would be delighted to hear from them. It would be preferable for applicants to live in the Stirling/Glasgow area for ease of access.

The ship is owned and run by a charitable trust, with the duty and responsibility to maintain her in good conditions and ensure her future.

gWould any interested people please be kind enough, in the fi rst instance, to contact me by email at [email protected] or, if visiting the loch, ask if I am there.ROBIN DENNY

Mariners’ Park newsThe Nautilus Welfare Fund celebrated 10 years of its Home Care service last month, with a special lunch and cake at the Trinity House Hub in Mariners’ Park.

The charity care service provides specialist care at home for retired seafarers in need and their dependants, enabling them to stay in their own homes for longer.

‘Ten years ago the service began with just two residents,’ said Mick Howarth, welfare services manager. ‘Today we provide services to 34 residents — one in four of the people living on Mariners’ Park — and it is

an integral part of the services we provide.

‘We have always wanted Mariners’ Park to provide residents with a home for life and help people remain as independent as possible for as long as possible. Without our team of Home Care staff , that would not be possible.

Mr Howarth praised the team at Mariners’ Park, who work 365 days a year, starting before residents get up, and fi nishing after they have gone to bed.

‘They do a fantastic job, he said. ‘But it’s not just what they do, it’s the supportive, caring way they do it.’

Residents from Mariners’ Park and the surrounding area gathered at the Park’s memorial last month to commemorate Merchant Navy day. They held a two minute silence to remember those who had been lost and gave thanks for those serving today.

PCaptain Russell Fitton, (‘Russ’ to friends and shipmates), was a family man, a

Master Mariner, a fellow offi cer, a Nautilus member and a true gentleman. Russ passed away on Saturday 23 August 2014 at home in Dunragit, Dumfries and Galloway, as a result of a pulmonary embolism.

Russ was born on 28 Februay 1957 in Nelson, Lancashire. He was the son of John and Sheila Fitton. He had three brothers, Lawrence, Andrew and Julian. Sadly Lawrence died a few years ago.

Russ attended the Nelson Grammar School, and upon leaving he joined the General Cargo Division of the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O GCD) in September 1973, as a deck cadet where he studied at Riversdale College of Technology from 1973 to 1977.

After completing his cadetship, Russ sailed as third, second and chief offi cer on deepsea cargo ships, and obtained his Master’s certifi cate at John Moores Institute in Liverpool. He received a surprise promotion when he had to step up to command when the master of his ship became unwell and had to be hospitalised. Russ took the Wellington Star from Auckland to Los Angeles.

He was an active man and he had many interests, including sub-aqua diving, skiing, motorbikes, horse-riding and piloting light aircraft.

Russ and Sue were married on 7 August 1982 at St. Phillip Church in Nelson, and they have three children — Stuart, who was born in June 1984, Craig, born in June 1987, and Andrea, born in 1992. In 2010, Stuart married Rachel, and three years later provided Russ and Sue with a granddaughter, Isla, who they

were both besotted with — and were equally excited at the prospect of another grandchild on the way.

In 1992, with a young family, Russ decided to seek employment closer to home and fast ferries suited his need for speed. He joined Seacat as navigator and quickly achieved command of the Seacat Scotland.

A move to Stena Line soon got him on to the HSS where Russ sailed as fi rst offi cer and chief offi cer before being passed out as master, stepping up to command as required.

Russ made the transition to conventional ferries in 2010 when the mighty HSS started to wind down towards her ultimate demise. He had to re-learn about ships of steel with propellers and rudders and only one hull!

Russ got his appointed command with Stena Line upon the introduction of the ‘Superfast’ ships sailing to Belfast from the new Stena terminal at Cairnryan and was the training master on Stena Superfast VIII, where he trained new staff, particularly the annual intake of summer seasonal staff. He also organised all the requisite training for offi cers and crew.

In 1992, whilst on the Seacat in the port of Stranraer, an incident occurred with a shoreside crane which fell into the dock — trapping some dockworkers in the water. Without any thought for his own safety, Russ quickly donned the diving equipment which he had in his car at the time, dived into the dock and became part of the rescue attempt to free trapped workers in the crane.

The funeral of Capt Fitton occurred on Tuesday 2 September at the Masonhill Crematorium, Ayr. It was attended by his family and many friends, including a wonderful turn-out by Stena Line colleagues and members of the ‘Riversdale Rambling Club’ who fi rst met him 41 years ago to the day when their deck apprenticeships commenced.

Long-time friend and colleague David McMillan gave a lovely eulogy of Russ’s life to the congregation.

As an avid member of the ‘Riversdale Rambling Club’, and as a regular participant at the happy reunions, Russ will be very sadly missed.

If three words could describe the life and character of this lovely man and fellow seafarer, they would be: honourable, dependable and good-humoured.Captain PAUL POTTERFishguard

Russell Fitton on the Stena Superfast VIII

Pictured left is Trinity House Hub resident Mrs McDavitt in the new hairdressing salon which has opened up in the Hub. The salon is one of the new facilities off ered on the site for residents of Mariners’ Park,which also include a gym and spa.

16-18_lets.indd 18 24/09/2014 16:38

MARITIME CAREERS


Where is everyone?A

Would you recommend a career at sea to a young person? That was the question posed in a sparky debate at this year’s Interna-

tional Chamber of Shipping conference.The discussion was opened by writer Rose

George, whose prize-winning book — Deep Sea and Foreign Going — was based on her experiences dur-ing a voyage from the UK to the Far East onboard a Maersk containership.

‘I came into shipping as a rank outsider,’ she told the meeting. ‘I had a really fantastic and wonderful time in my five weeks on Maersk Kendal. But although I loved being at sea very much, I find it dif-ficult to recommend a career at sea to a young per-son after what I learned about what it is like to work onboard a modern containership.’

Maersk is a good company, Ms George noted, and the seafarers she met were paid a good rate for their work. ‘But what shocked me when I came onboard was that there were so few people,’ she added. ‘My first thought was, where is everyone? I didn’t expect there to be only 19 people onboard, and the other thing that shocked me that first day was that nobody talked to each other.’

Timing dinner, she found that crew members spent an average of just six minutes at the table. ‘It was not a social occasion, it was re-fuelling,’ she said. In the evenings, the vessel turned into a ‘ghost ship’ as people retreated to their cabins rather than socialising with each other.

Hardly anyone used the gym, Ms George said, and because the ship was dry there was no opportu-nity for seafarers to relax together with a drink. The multinational crew were ‘a bunch of disparate peo-ple who went their separate ways at the end of the voyage’.

By contrast, she later sailed onboard a naval ship on counter-piracy duties and found that ‘every effort’ was made to encourage socialisation and team-building.

She said she had been careful to distinguish between ‘standard workplace grumblings’ and more profound concerns, such as the fears of young Brit-ish officers being priced out of the labour market.

However, it was impossible to ignore the effect of Maersk’s decision to replace serviettes with paper kitchen rolls on the table, and the introduction of paper towels had made the captain of her ship furi-ous. ‘I think he had a point,’ she said. ‘It may seem just a small thing, but it had a big resonating impact because it shows you are no longer respected.’

The master — who had more than 40 years of seagoing experience — was no longer in love with his job because of a number of fundamental prob-lems, she added. Shipboard life is now such that nobody is there for the love of the job, and many young people would probably just spend a few years going to sea, she warned. Consequently, the industry will have a fight on its hands to retain the skills and experience it needs for the long term.

The difficulties for new entrants are also exacer-bated when many on their first sea phase find that the officers on their ships cannot be bothered to teach them properly and the manuals are unreada-ble, she went on.

Ms George said she had asked her seafaring Twit-ter followers what needs to change, and it was clear that significant work has to be done to address wel-fare issues. Opportunities for proper rest and relax-ation are rare, she pointed out, and owners should do more to ensure their crews get quality time to unwind.

Recent research had shown that barely 20% of seafarers on bulk carriers and containerships have free internet access, she pointed out, and such poor provision would make many young people think twice about going to sea.

But Peter Cremers, CEO of the Anglo-Eastern Group, argued that there is still plenty of social activity onboard, and giving seafarers open access to computers and social media could be ‘a mixed blessing’.

If crew members are able to keep in constant con-tact with friends and family at home, this can bring problems of the shore to the ship, he suggested. However, owners could help by making every effort

to take care of family members while seafarers are away at sea.

Deirdre Fitzpatrick, executive director of Seafar-ers’ Rights International, said that while there have been advances in the industry, her 20 years of expe-rience of litigating on behalf of crews had identified three common problems — unpaid wages, crimi-nalisation and unsafe ships.

Life at sea can be enjoyable, and for the right sort of personality it can be very good, she said. But the ITF still has to recover some $38m a year in owed wages, and research showed that almost one in 10 seafarers — and 24% of shipmasters — had faced criminal charges at some stage in their career.

However, Captain Steven Cockerill, a master serv-ing with DFDS Seaways, said he would have no hesi-tation in recommending a seafaring career. ‘Never before has there been so much variety,’ he pointed out. ‘You can pick your lifestyle — there’s the yacht sector, the cruise sector, or the offshore industry throwing money at you…’

Capt Cockerill said he enjoyed the mix of people working at sea and the ‘banter’ of life onboard. For masters, he added, dry ships had delivered some benefits — and more and more crew members are now using the gyms on their ships.

Good internet access is vital, he stressed. ‘If we are taking 18-year-olds out of their bedrooms where they have Playstations, PCs and DVDs, we need to supply them with sufficient bandwidth at sea. We are trailing behind at the moment and we can’t keep up.’

Mr Cremers said there was no shortage of young people seeking careers at sea — with some 2,000 candidates for the 130 positions on offer at Anglo-Eastern’s Indian training academy this year. ‘It’s still a fantastic job,’ he added, ‘and it can lead to very good careers ashore.’

Captain Andrew Moll, from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch, said analysis of incidents at sea often showed a detrimental impact from ‘league of nations’ crewing, with language problems and cultural difficulties being common.

Mr Cremers said he was a fan of single nationality crews — with a maximum of two nationalities being best. It’s often a question of understanding what makes certain nationalities tick, he suggested.

While he believes that seafarers today ‘do a much more professional job to a much higher standard than those of 30 years ago’, Mr Cremers said he was concerned that there is too much emphasis on paperwork, and regulatory requirements mean sea-farers are often not doing the job they should be doing.

AChris Haughton, from Videotel Marine, cau-tioned against viewing life at sea through rose-tinted spectacles and warm nostalgia

for how things used to be. ‘It could be boring in the 70s, and conditions

today are not so very different from how things were,’ he pointed out. ‘And it is a myth that people spent a long time at sea all those years ago. The aver-age length of a seagoing career has been constant at seven to 10 years for a long time. It is the exception to stay at sea a long time rather than the rule.’

Captain John Rose, from the Confidential Human Incident Reporting Programme, said he was opti-mistic about the future for British officers. With gov-ernment support for training costs, it could be cheaper to train UK cadets than many other nation-alities, he pointed out. However, the industry should be doing much more to provide them with better mentoring during their early years.

Despite her reservations about recommending a seafaring career, Ms George said she believed ship-ping has a very strong and positive story to tell — not least its recent role in rescuing refugees in the Mediterranean. ‘The industry is something to be proud of and we should recognise its role in not just bringing us 90% of everything but also doing things like search and rescue,’ she added.

Ms George said the untapped potential had been illustrated by one seafarer who had told her: ‘It’s not the best job in the world — but sometimes it could be.’

Shipping may not have changed as much we think, but the problem of silent, unsociable crews may need tackling if we are to attract and retain new recruits…

Capt Steven Cockerill of DFDS would happily recommend a seafaring career...

... but writer and shipping commentator Rose George would hesitate to do the same

IA new internet portal which seeks to spark interest in seafaring among young people across Europe has been launched following

feedback from the maritime sector.The Go-Maritime site — http://go-maritime.net — aims to provide

detailed information about the diversity of careers at sea and ashore — including ‘day in the life of’ fi lms showing deck and engineer offi cers at work.

Developed as part of the European Commission-funded KnowMe project to improve the image of maritime professions and to encourage school leavers to consider careers at sea, the site also includes a wide range of images, interactive maps and games, and animations to provide a realistic insight into the industry.

Site content is based on scientifi c research conducted by 13 author teams from six European partner countries, and includes free e-learning modules developed as part of the project, addressing the subjects of cross-cultural training, maritime logistics and supply chain management, and environmental management.

New careers site aims to give a taste of life at sea

19_icsend_SR edit.indd Sec1:19 24/09/2014 16:01

MARITIME CAREERS


Consumer

Family problems

Immigration

Advice service for seafarers and their families

FREE, FAST & CONFIDENTIAL

SAIL is an advice service operated by Greenwich Citizens

Advice Bureau on behalf of the Seamen’s Hospital Society.

We provide information, advice and support to serving and

retired merchant seafarers, fishermen and their families on

a wide range of issues including:

We also provide specialist support to other agencies and

currently take RN referrals from the White Ensign Association.

CONTACT US FOR ADVICE

Phone: 08457 413 318 (Monday to Friday, 10.00am to 4.00pm)

Fax: 020 8269 0794 Email: [email protected]

Post: PO Box 45234, Greenwich, London SE10 9WR

Debt problems

Welfare benefits

Tax credits

Housing

Pensions

Employment

** *

* **

* **

Supported by:

KEverybody’s love of the maritime industry develops in a different

way. Many people have family or friends already working at sea, some have been messing around on boats from a young age, but for others it is the opportunity to travel the world that sets off a chain reaction which can lead anywhere.

‘When I left university with a business degree and didn’t know what I wanted to do,’ explains Mark Robertshaw of Bibby Ship Management. ‘So I began phon-ing round companies on the Isle of Man where I’m from, asking to meet the managing directors and find out more about their industry.

‘Looking back, it could appear rather conceited or even naïve phoning the heads of the vari-ous businesses in the banking, insurance, retail and leisure sec-tor asking for their valuable time, but I simply wanted to find out what their businesses did and what they liked about their job and thought this would be the best route. Surprisingly, it worked and everyone I spoke to was really helpful.

‘I managed to get a meet-ing with Captain Nigel Malpass, who was the managing director

of Bibby International Services. Unfortunately it was at 9am on the day after my 21st birthday so I’m not sure I was looking my best, but when I walked into his office I saw all these fantastic pho-tographs on his walls that he had taken when he had been away at sea.

‘He told me all these stories about his time at sea and onshore management and from that point I knew a career in shipping was for me.’

Following this meeting Mark took an MSc post-graduate course in International Shipping at Plymouth University and then set out to discover the world.

‘Unfortunately I found it quite hard to get my first job in ship-ping and started in the finance sector to pay the bills, but luckily an opportunity arose on the Isle of Man for a trainee shipbroker and I put my best foot forward and got my first break in ship-ping,’ he adds. ‘However, I was determined to see the world by this point — it was the global nature of the business that had attracted me in the first place.

‘I eventually saw an advert for a management trainee in Singa-pore and jumped at the chance. I got an interview with the owners of Seaconsortium, a Singaporean

ship owner and operator, and got a job which would move me to Asia.

‘Seaconsortium’s manage-ment programme involved get-ting managers onto ships to expe-rience what the seafarers have to go through and the operational differences of different types of vessels and ports, which I think is invaluable. I got to know a lot about the ports in Asia and life onboard!’

KMark had only been in Mumbai for two months when his line man-

ager left, leaving him in charge. Another six months later and Mark was switched to the head offi ce in Singapore. He then moved to Hapag Lloyd’s offi ces in Singapore and was now travel-ling round the world for a living — just as he had wanted. A few more years later and he made another

bold move — to invest in, and set up, the Asian HQ of the maritime recruitment company Fastream, in Singapore. One of his clients was Bibby Ship Management, who eventually offered him the chance to move back to the Isle of Man.

‘When you grow up in a small town you want to see the world, and when you travel the world it’s nice to come back home,’ he admits.

‘By this time I had three chil-dren who had all been born in Singapore, but my wife and I both have family on the Isle of Man so we travelled there a lot and the boys knew the area.’

Mark still travels a great deal in his new role, looking after West-ern Europe, and believes that going ‘full circle’ has bought him the best of both worlds.

‘The company and the role give me the international busi-ness opportunities and the chance to continue working with different countries and different cultures, which I love,’ he says.

‘“Restless momentum” is one of our key values and I think that also describes me very well. The company give me a lot of auton-omy to develop the parts of the business I work for and under-stand. I have worked for both large multinationals and small start-ups and Bibby Ship Manage-ment combines those two to give employees and clients the best of both worlds.

It may well be this ‘restless momentum’ which saw Bibby

Line Group’s profits rise rapidly between 2008 and 2012, a time when almost all other companies were being affected by the global down-turn.

The Group is made up of nine inter-linked sectors including supply chain services, shipping and retail. It owns businesses as diverse as financial services and retail chain Costcutter.

Bibby Ship Management itself provides services including crew management and supply, train-ing, marine and offshore survey-ing, consultancy and travel.

Mark contributes the success of the ship management side of the business to the high quality of service from the company. ‘We are looking to grow the offshore side of the ship management business where quality and safety are key,’ he adds. ‘We have been around for long enough that clients know they can trust us. It is difficult to develop that kind of reputation from scratch. Word of mouth is a big factor; we get enquiries com-ing directly to us all the time.’

Despite the huge growth in recent years, Mark has no inten-tion of slowing down the develop-ment of the business.

‘We are experts in our field and understand the differences between separate offshore areas

which all come under different legislation,’ he says. ‘It’s a differ-ent business to running deepsea ships.

‘Shipping is such a great busi-ness to be in. Even if it isn’t as well paid as other sectors, travelling round the world and meeting dif-ferent people from different cul-tures and countries is great.

‘I am proof that you don’t need to have family in the industry or any connection with it — you can just get the qualifications and get out there,’ he adds.

‘I think seafaring has some-thing especially great to offer young people. There is paid training and rotations tend to be shorter these days so the work/family balance is much better. Many seafarers can be at home half the year which compares very favourably with office work-ers who don’t get much time in the evenings and so only really spend time with family at the weekend. With internet access at sea improving all the time it’s not even as cut-off when you are away.

‘Then, in as little as five years, if you decide you don’t want to stay at sea there are so many opportu-nities to use your unique skills in shore-based jobs,’ he concludes. ‘The experience gained at sea can pay dividends for many years.’

Start at sea, then scale the heights

t e ,

s ,

e Bibby Ship Management managing director Mark Robertshaw

‘Restless momentum’ is a buzz phrase at Bibby Ship Management, and it certainly applies to the fi rm’s new managing director, fi nds Debbie Cavaldoro

Mark Robertshaw speaking at a Mersey Maritime event last month

“I think seafaring has something especially great to off er young people”

20_bibby.indd Sec2:20 24/09/2014 16:38

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MIt’s not a question of ‘if’ robot ships will rule the waves but of ‘when’, an

industry expert told top owners and managers last month.

And Oskar Levander, vice-pres-ident for innovation in marine engineering with Rolls-Royce, told the International Chamber of Shipping conference in Lon-don that crewless ships could also prove much safer than those with seafarers on.

He claimed shipping is at the dawn of a new era — comparable with the transition from steam to sail — as it moves towards total automation.

‘The big trend today is ship intelligence, with things like eNavigation and situation-keeping, decision support, health monitoring and automated reporting,’ he said, ‘and the role of the crew is becoming more one of supervision of the operation.’

The transition to crewless ves-sels also reflects a historical trend in which the average size of an ocean-going ship’s crew had fallen from around 250 in 1850, to 100 in 1900, less than 50 by 1950 and less than 20 today, he suggested.

Unmanned vehicles such as aircraft drones, metro trains and ROVs are already in use, Mr Levan-der said, and this process makes it inevitable that fully automated ships will come into service, mak-ing shipping more efficient as crew costs — the second largest element in the operational bill — are cut dramatically.

Further savings would be generated because ships would not have to be built with accom-modation or to be equipped with systems such as air conditioning, sewage and water. Such measures could help reduce fuel demand by up to 15%, while cargo space would be maximised and naval architects would be able to come up with radical new vessel designs.

Safety would be enhanced, he claimed. ‘Most accidents are related to human error and you

cannot make ships 100% safe, but remote control will provide better aids to navigation, and cameras are better than eyes. Redundant machinery with predictive main-tenance schemes will improve reliability and there will be auto-matic safe mode if a loss of control does occur.’

But it’s not all bad news for seafarers, he argued. The move will make their lives safer and give them better working condi-tions. ‘We should ask ourselves whether we are utilising sea-farers in the best way possible today. If you look at the captain and the amount of time he spends filling in forms, you wonder if we really should be using these highly qualified people to do 90% of something different from what they are trained to do. And what is safer — 20 people onboard a ves-sel in a raging storm in the North Sea or two people in a control room on land?’

MTechnology gives the chance for a captain to be in command of 10 ships

at the same time, Mr Levander argued. Vessels could be operated from the comfort of a shore-based control station, giving seafarers regular working hours and the chance to have normal family lives.

He admitted that the concept

of crewless ships is not new and that there are a number of major barriers to be overcome before they can take to the seas. The con-cept is also not suitable for all ship types, he added, and seafarers will still be required for such vessels as cruiseships and those carrying dangerous cargoes.

The biggest obstacle, he added, is not the technology but the rules and regulations. ‘A lot of the exist-ing rules are written with the principle that there are humans onboard. They need to be rewrit-ten, and we need to reissue SOLAS in 10 years’ time to take this into account.’

Mr Levander suggested that the transition will be made gradu-ally, with the first automated ves-sels likely to be locally-operated small ferries, harbour tugs or coastal ships.

But John Murray, ICS marine director, told the meeting that it was ‘too easy’ to forecast the intro-duction of unmanned ships, and more work was needed to take a realistic look at the evolution of new technologies. Attention should be paid to the way in which eNavigation, for instance, is mak-ing the watchkeeper’s job more of a monitoring role with a different set of competencies.

And David Wheal, from the UK Marine Accident Investiga-tion Branch, said training needs to be adapted in response to new technologies. Some problems are already evident, he pointed out, such as the lack of stimulation involved in monitoring systems leading to people falling asleep.

‘The move will not happen overnight,’ Mr Levander added. ‘We need to look at things like con-trol systems, operational manage-ment, situational awareness and human interaction, as well as com-munications, reliability and envi-ronmental condition monitoring.

‘But the technology is there, and that is why we are starting to drive this. Now is the right time to make this happen.’

Virtues of the roboshipsCrewless vessels haven’t yet won many fans in the seafaring community, but some say they could make the seas safer and our lives easier...

CPictured above is ‘ReVolt’ — a battery-powered crewless ship concept unveiled by the

classifi cation society DNV GL last month.Claimed to be ‘greener, smarter and safer’ than

conventional vessels, ReVolt is designed to operate shortsea services — with a range of up to 100nm before its 3,000kWh batteries need re-charging.

The vessel is designed to have an average speed of 6 knots, with less water resistance than other ships, which usually travel at about 8.7 knots. ‘The slight loss of speed allowed the engineers to fi t a straight vertical bow, further reducing water resistance

along the ship’s entire profi le and ultimately saving energy,’ the classifi cation society adds, and it predicts that the low operating and maintenance costs will make ReVolt some US$34m cheaper to operate than a conventional vessel over its estimated 30-year lifetime.

‘Building and operating this vessel would be possible with today’s technology,’ said senior researcher Hans Anton Tvete. ‘ReVolt is intended to serve as inspiration for equipment makers, ship yards and ship owners to develop new solutions on the path to a safe and sustainable future.’

FRoyal Caribbean International (RCI) is planning to use robot bartenders as part of a package of high-

tech services onboard its next two cruiseships.Anthem of the Seas and Quantum of the Seas will

both feature a ‘bionic bar’ with passengers able to order drinks using electronic tablets. Robotic arms — the fi rst of their kind anywhere in the world — will be able to mix and deliver the cocktail of choice.

Royal Caribbean is promising industry-leading bandwidth with speeds matching those that people enjoy at home, to provide other cutting-edge services such as ‘virtual balconies’ displaying real-time sights and sounds through 80-inch LED screens, an online check-in procedure, RFID luggage tracking, and digital wristbands that serve not only as keys to get into cabins but also can be used to make purchases around the ship.

Oskar Levander, vice-president for innovation in marine engineering with Rolls-Royce

21_robots_SR edit.indd 21 24/09/2014 16:39

MARITIME CAREERS


WERE YOU AWARE that following the successul outcome of a judicial review in respect of two Seatax clients, (brought before the Courts by Nautilus in collaboration with Seatax Ltd as expert advisors on the Seafarers Earnings Deduction), it was deemed that the two Seatax clients did have a legitimate expectation in applying the only published Revenue Practice with regard to the application of a day of absence in relation to a vessel sailing between UK ports. HMRC did not want to accept this practice (although referred to in their very own publications) but have now accepted that expectations of a claim based on such practice would be valid until the published practice is withdrawn. Following on from this, HMRC have now confi rmed that this Practice is withdrawn as of the 14 February 2014. Seatax was the only Advisory Service that challenged HMRC on this point.

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“All my prior knowledge of commercial shipping was through internet research and the Sea Cadet Corps”

OWork experience is a great way in which to get young people interested

in different careers. But it can be a challenge for the shipping industry to provide a taste of life at sea to potential seafarers.

This summer, Cardiff-based Graig Ship Management has shown how to do it — provid-ing a week-long programme for a 15-year-old schoolboy who is keen to start training as a Mer-chant Navy cadet after his GCSEs next year.

Ben Pritchard spent five days in the company’s head office, working alongside staff in all of the key departments, and he says the experience has reinforced his ambition to go to sea, as well as deepening his knowledge of the shipping industry.

Ben’s interest in shipping was first sparked by a scene in a Rocky movie, showing a con-tainership being unloaded. ‘The size of the ship and the scale of the operation intrigued me,’ he recalls. ‘I started asking ques-tions about working on ships and used the internet, as well as joining the Sea Cadets, which has further confirmed my desire to join the MN.’

The placement at Graig’s office came about after Ben’s father contacted the Merchant

Navy Training Board (MNTB) last year about the possibility of work experience in the indus-try. ‘Glenys Jackson, the head of the MNTB, was superb, noted our home location and intro-duced us to Deb Gray, who is the fleet personnel coordinator of Graig Ship Management,’ Ben explained.

‘We regularly have work expe-rience students during school and college holidays, but this is the first time we have had a stu-dent who is focused on a career in the Merchant Navy,’ Deb adds.

‘I was already planning to attend the Warsash Open Day in Janu-ary 2014, so I contacted Ben’s father and we arranged to meet up there. I took some literature about Graig with me and had a good chat to Ben about his career aspirations, school, outside interests, etc. He struck me as a very mature young man and I knew that he would benefit from having some time in a shipping environment to get an under-standing of the shore-side aspect of the industry.’

During his week at the Graig office, Ben spent time alongside staff in the technical, crewing and purchasing departments, as well as getting an insight into the work involved in such areas as planned maintenance, opera-tions, safety and en viron ment, and ships’ documentation.

He said he had particularly enjoyed his time with superin-tendent Ray Mace in the techni-cal department, and had also been impressed by the impor-tance of the work involved in keeping ships running and prop-erly maintained.

‘Everyone in Graig Shipping was very welcoming, knowledge-able and enthusiastic about the industry,’ he adds. ‘I enjoyed lis-tening to the different charac-ters in each department I visited

and the banter between the dif-ferent branches — particularly between the deck and engineer officers!’

Ben said staff had given him some ‘brilliant’ advice about working at sea and that a presen-

tation by technical director Phil Atkinson — himself a former Graig cadet and chief engineer officer — had helped to deepen his understanding of the indus-try and of the opportunities opened up by seafarer training.

‘All my prior knowledge of commercial shipping was through internet research and the Sea Cadet Corps,’ he adds. ‘Most of my family tend to work in the aviation industry, so I have no direct family connections. What has surprised us all, are the amount of people we have spo-ken to in different industries who have had careers in the MN. For example, line managers, airline pilots, security agents and more.’

Deb says she would recom-mend other shipping companies to offer similar work experience opportunities. ‘It does not cost anything to the employer, does not require too much adminis-tration and is so valuable to the student,’ she points out. ‘It really is very fulfilling to see young-sters like Ben who are so focused on what they want to do, and it’s nice for our ex-seafarers to see young people who are interested in pursuing a career in the Mer-chant Navy.’

Glenys Jackson says the MNTB is keen to support such initia-tives. ‘We have a work experience guidance booklet and would be happy to help a company put a programme together if they needed us to,’ she adds.

Ben’s experience with Graig illustrates how a one or two week placement for a 15 or 16 year old pupil in a shipping company office can prove invaluable in promoting the maritime sector, developing links with schools and helping young people to decide whether to pursue a career in the industry, Glenys argues.

‘An organised and structured placement can give them an insight into what goes on in a busy office and the sorts of work involved in a shipping company, and will help raise awareness of the industry as a whole,’ she points out.

‘It’s not difficult to do or organise, shows the company’s commitment to its local area and is a great promotion tool as well as providing a place for the younger generation to find out about the industry — and it could possibly be the start of their future career,’ she adds. ‘Give it a go and you won’t be dis-appointed.’

OBoth the MNTB and Chamber of Shipping have had their own work

experience pupils, Glenys says. ‘One of them followed his origi-nal aim to go to sea after being with us, and is now working as a junior offi cer. He updates us on his career from time to time, which is lovely and very interest-ing and great to hear.’

Ben enjoyed his time at Graig so much that he is hoping to return in the summer of 2015 — possibly for longer next time. ‘Compared to other students in my school, many think that I had quite a diverse work experience,’ he adds. ‘When I speak to friends about the Merchant Navy, they automatically think of the Royal Navy. When I explain the differ-ence, some people are quite sur-prised that the Merchant Navy is in fact the commercial side of the shipping industry.

‘I always enjoy people’s reac-tions when I explain just how important the Merchant Navy is and the fact that most day-to-day items we use will in part — if not all — come into the country by sea.’

Shore way to get to seaUK Merchant Navy Training Board urges shipping firms to take note of how a week of work with a Cardiff company has helped fuel a future seafarer’s ambition…

Ben Pritchard was inspired to look into a career at sea after watching a Rocky movie, and a work experience placement with Graig Ship Management has left him even more enthusiastic about the Merchant Navy

22_workex_SR edit.indd Sec2:22 24/09/2014 16:02

MARITIME CAREERS


www.seafarersupport.org

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Are you serving or retired

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former UK seafarers and their families in times of need

MShe’s captain of Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth, one of the UK’s most prestigious passen-gerships. But Inger Klein Thorhauge (Klein

Olsen before her marriage) doesn’t see herself as Master under God or some sort of matriarchal equiv-alent of the ‘Old Man’.

Instead, Inger says, she sees herself simply a member of the inter-dependent team who run the ship. And she happens to be captain of that team. The crew are proud of her.

Who is this phenomenon? She’d hate the term because she feels like an ordinary person who’s doing something unremarkable — though, as yet, some-what unusual in regions other than Scandinavia.

‘It’s not so weighty. I’m not so impressed,’ Inger says. ‘What’s the big deal? Why shouldn’t someone do the job they’re good at?’

When she meets people at parties they say things like ‘I’d never have guessed. You’re so normal.’ ‘Why wouldn’t I be?’

Inger worked her way up, just like any other com-petent deck officer, rising one obvious normal rung at a time.

Looking back at many women deck officers’ careers, she thinks it takes women a bit longer to pro-gress. Companies still have entrenched ideas about gender. ‘And there’ll always be someone at headquar-ters who thinks women shouldn’t be at sea at all.’

Where did this Faroese seafarer, born in 1967, begin? Not with a mysterious sense of vocation or passionate desire to be a captain. Not at the knee of seafaring forbears. But as a young woman who wanted to see the world.

Inger sailed initially on Faroe Line semi-cargo ships as a stewardess, in the late 1980s. ‘I hate clean-ing,’ she admits. ‘I thought I needed to find a different way to travel…’

So when a friend told her about cadetships, she decided to embark on a new career course. ‘Why not? At least I’m not cleaning!’ And working as a seafarer seemed ‘a good thing to do for a few years before I got married and had kids’.

She was taken on by DFDS/Scandinavian Seaways. No problems about finding a sponsor prepared to take on a woman blocked her way, as was the case for her British counterparts.

Inger’s progress involved doing half a year at pre-sea training school, at Kogtved Søfartsskole. This was followed by 36 months on a range of ships from ro-ros and ferries to a dredger.

She enjoyed them all. Although she’d had no dreams of becoming a captain, at the end of her three years Inger took her master’s at Svendborg naviga-tional school, Denmark’s premier navigational train-ing centre. From there on she rose through second mate, first mate, chief mate. Wanting to be on bigger ships and see more of the world, she applied to 18 companies. Cunard was the first to say yes, in 1997.

On the Vistafjord, which became the Caronia, Inger was second officer, then first officer, before moving to Seabourn Sun, where she later became chief officer. From there, she became staff captain of Seabourn Pride in 2003.

For the next seven years she was staff captain (now known as deputy captain on various Princess and P&O ships.) Then in 2010 she made it as the first woman captain of the Queen Victoria, in a traditional company that nevertheless recognised the abilities of an officer whose early career it had nurtured.

‘I grew up with the Cunard fleet and I liked being back,’ she says. ‘It felt like the circle was completed.’

Cunard made this major step just as the first tranche of pioneering women masters were also taking their place at the top of other ships. These include:zKarin Stahre-Janson, who became Royal Caribbean

International’s first woman captain in 2007 and the first woman to command a major cruise shipzLis Lauritzen, who became relief captain on the RCI’s Jewel of the Seas in 2008, followed by command of the Vision of the Seas in 2011zSarah Breton, who became captain on P&O Cruises’ Artemis in 2010, followed by command of P&O Cruises Australia’s Pacific Pearl in 2011.

Inger sees veteran chief engineer Lisa Jenkins as one of this distinguished group of path-breakers too. Although they don’t network, Inger thinks these women, like her, recognise their importance as pio-neers and role models. When giving lectures to the public she stresses the important things for aspiring girls and young women to remember:zbe true to yourself, act with integrityzbelieve in what you want, and want it

What are the obstacles for women in seafaring? After all, only around 10% of deck officers are women today.

High up the list is the long time away at sea. ‘Stud-ies show that two months is the optimum period,’ she argues. But companies think in short-term econ-omistic ways (let’s not waste money flying people home) rather than considering socially useful ideas, which would enable everyone to work more effec-tively and women to combine career and family.

UK Chamber of Shipping statistics show the aver-age age for a woman deck officer is 30. For a man it’s 44. So Inger is unusual. She has no children and only recently got married, so she never had to make the choice of babies versus the bridge.

MWhat are her pleasures at sea? She doesn’t really have a favourite ship. Not even a favourite port. She loves them all, differ-

ently. Her favourite moments as a seafarer are ‘enjoying

the stars in the night sky and listening to the waves’. And Inger’s biggest pleasures as captain are ‘when I’m working with a really good team and everyone’s happy’.

Having to discharge someone is the thing she likes least about being at the top — especially when that person is usually someone ‘who’s destroyed it for themselves. I feel bad at stopping their career and affecting their family income too’.

The long leaves are something she enjoys very much, home in Svendborg, South Denmark. Recov-ering from tiring trips she does ‘everything normal people do: walking, cycling, cooking and deciding for myself’.

Her partner works shifts. So he can build up a bank of time off to be with her when she’s home and travel with her from time to time. When I phoned they had been building a shed in their big garden by the water. Making apple and rhubarb jam lay ahead of her.

What next? Is there any higher to go? As a here-and-now person who likes to do what she’s doing to the hilt, Inger has no plans. She’ll take things as they come.

Recognising that she’s a pioneer whose appoint-ment and ability to do her job well are highly sig-nificant in improving equal rights in the world, she encourages other women into the industry. And she thinks it very important that the media gives more prominence to women seafarers.

So she’s very impressed with the Nautilus Tel-egraph’s coverage of women, and with the Union’s women’s forum too. She is not aware of such a sup-port system in Denmark. Equal opportunities are so established that ‘there’s no need’.

But, she concludes: ‘It’s important to show it’s pos-sible for women to become captains. The door is now open.’

Just doing a normal jobInger Klein Thorhauge is master of the Cunard cruiseship Queen Elizabeth. But, she tells JO STANLEY, she sees herself as a team member — who happens to be the captain...

Inger Klein Thorhauge

23_ingero_SR edit.indd 23 24/09/2014 17:06

MARITIME SAFETY


PThe rules requiring hours of work and rest records were developed to protect seafarers from the effects of fatigue. So why, then, do so

many seafarers submit ‘fl ogged logs’?That was the question Nautilus member Captain

John Sanderson set out to answer in a detailed study carried out for an MSc degree research project dissertation at Southampton Solent University (SSU) in 2013.

Capt Sanderson, who has 30 years’ experience in the shipping industry and serves as a deepsea pilot, explained why he decided to investigate the issue: ‘Though there is a common belief within the shipping industry that false recording of rest/work hours exists, there is limited evidence of the true extent of this falsification.’

A questionnaire was completed by a total of 177 seafarers (masters, mates and bridge watchkeeping ratings) which provided important information about their knowledge of the rules, the extent to which their records are accurate, and their views on future regulations to combat fatigue.

The results revealed some fairly shocking gaps in knowledge and showed that more than 80% of the seafarers sampled admitted to falsifying their work/rest records at some time. The study notes the repeatedly voiced concerns that there is routine falsification, highlighted in earlier research by Cardiff University which found around 40% of British and Irish seafarers were incorrectly logging their hours.

The recording of hours is a requirement of the STCW Convention and seeks to prove to vessel managers, port state and flag state authorities that watchkeepers are complying with the rules.

But accident investigations often uncover serious disregard for the recording rules. The Australian Transport Safety Board, for instance, had found the chief mate of the grounded bulk carrier Shen Neng 1 had recorded eight hours of work per day — even though he had only about 2.5 hours of rest in the 38.5 hours before the accident. Investigations into an enclosed space fatality discovered that the chief mate of another ship had completed his records for one day in advance of his death.

Capt Sanderson’s dissertation explores the extensive evidence showing the scale of excessive working hours at sea and the adverse effects of fatigue upon health and safety, and it suggests that returning inaccurate records may give owners and managers the wrong impression that all is well on their ships and that existing crewing levels are appropriate.

‘Falsification may appear to help a crew’s short term problem of overwork but it reduces the efficacy of the regulations when the hours of rest are part of the wider STCW-Manila and MLC regulations to overhaul and improve the conditions for seafarers,’ the paper points out.

Research shows an added social problem with fatigue is admitting to it — with some crews concerned about the reactions of colleagues if they do report the problem. The traditional seafarer’s view of fatigue management may be coffee — with the ability to stay awake and work when fatigued being seen as admirable. Such a viewpoint is not limited to seafarers, and the ability to drive when fatigued being seen as an ‘admirable mark of high motivation and machismo’ was cited in a 2008 report.

The Health & Safety Executive suggests that workers break the rules ‘because they can, because it is culturally acceptable and because they can get away

with it’. Shipping industry studies have indicated that seafarers may mis-report their working hours because of a fear that they could jeopardise their jobs by disclosing breaches of the rules, Capt Sanderson’s paper points out.

However, his research uncovered some widespread gaps in knowledge and understanding of the STCW hours of rest regulations. Five seafarers (nearly 3% of the survey) were completely unaware of their existence, even though they have been in force since 1995 and 18% said they were unaware of the 2010 STCW ‘Manila’ amendments.

‘The high number of crews unaware of the STCW-Manila and the crews’ demographic spread across the whole population, indicates that the information transfer from all administrations in

shipping is not being adequately circulated to the crews or crews are not learning from this information,’ his paper comments.

Only 18% of the seafarers stated that they always record their true hours — with the statistics showing that those with the most experience at sea were most likely to be in compliance with the rules. Accurate reporting also appeared to be highest among crews on tankers and containerships, lower on car carriers and lowest on bulkers.

More than 80% reported that their recorded rest hours were not always true. ‘This does not imply a disregard for the regulations but highlights the extent of the false recording,’ the paper states. ‘The majority of crews (54%) who were sampled recorded true hours most of the time, whilst 19% of the sampled crews recorded true hours some of the time. This large sample percentage indicates that crews are taking the easier option of bowing to the commercial pressures of the ship’s schedule, falsifying the hours records rather than raising the safety point of their extra hours.’

Almost one in 10 seafarers sampled said their records were rarely or never true — and Capt Sanderson’s reports describes these ‘worrying’ figures as being close to the levels found in previous research.

Just over half said they had filed inaccurate records to avoid a problem, with one in 10 saying it was related to overtime records, just under 10% saying it was as a

result of a request by a senior officer, and other common reasons being ‘to help the ship’ or ‘to help other crew’.

Somewhat ironically, more than 50% who added comments referred to port state control (PSC) as a factor in their decision to file false records. ‘The prospect of an inspection and deficiencies being detected by an official of the PSC is very pressing, with managers possibly seeing the PSC results as an indicator or reflection of their ability with the added pressure on crews to perform well,’ the paper notes.

‘Crews, it appears, are “fed up with inspections” and are more concerned with presenting a good, yet false, impression of their standards and taking a chance of an in-depth inspection,’ he added. ‘Failure to present this false impression of their true hours is perceived as leaving the vessel open to more in-depth inspections if inspected by the PSC, with added problems from their managers.’

AMany of the seafarers were positive about the efforts made by senior offi cers to try to ensure

that crew members got as much rest as possible. Others highlighted the negative effect upon working schedules of frequent port calls and cargo lashing duties for ratings in port.

‘Only one comment was made regarding the positive aspect of the regulations and the ability to always record the hours truthfully by well-planned management,’ the paper states. ‘This single comment possibly highlights the depth of feeling among seafarers about rest hours.’

The survey did show a significant number of seafarers — some 37% — believing that their managers have been active in trying to increase their rest hours. The figure was as high as 80% among tanker crews and as low as 10% for those serving on bulk carriers.

Extra crew was the most common measure taken by companies seeking to address the problem, with limited numbers taking steps to reduce paperwork and introduce new automated equipment, or to use shore staff to carry out maintenance and to put on extra crew while in port.

The paper provided a fair representation of the world’s seafarers — with those taking part originating from India, the Philippines, South Korea, Myanmar, China, eastern Europe, the UK, Italy and Taiwan, and serving on five different ship types.

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With a major global port state control campaign now under way to tackle abuse of hours of work and rest rules, we look at research into the reasons why seafarers continue to falsify their records…

Inspecting the log... Picture: US Coast Guard

“Only 18% of the seafarers in the SSU survey stated that they always record their true hours”

Shen Neng 1 had recorded eight hours of work per day Picture: HO New / Reuters

24-25_fatigue.indd 24 24/09/2014 17:07

MARITIME SAFETY


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The finding that fewer than one in five seafarers record their hours correctly is surprising for an industry in which the records have been mandatory for watchkeepers since 1995 and in the light of the International Safety Management Code requirements, he added.

‘Simply having an ISM system and a requirement to correctly record hours does not mean that the correct procedures will be adopted,’ he pointed out, ‘and is added proof that the existing system of recording and auditing of hours of rest/work is not an indicator of regulation compliance.’

Qualitative analysis of the feedback from the survey participants had highlighted the way in which excessive hours are often clocked up by bridge crews as a result of port operations during coastal schedules.

‘The danger is a crew being at their rested low point and navigating at their most dangerous time due to the demands of pilotage followed by a coastal navigation passage,’ the dissertation notes. ‘This situation is increased due to the change in circadian rhythm from the regular ocean passage structure to the coastal passage.’

These concerns are endorsed by industry statistics showing that more than half of incidents in congested waters occur with a pilot onboard, it adds. ‘This highlights the need for increased manning or assistance in port for crews to limit the effect of the extra duties, or the real ability to delay sailing until the crew is rested and fit to carry out their duties effectively.’

It is also worrying that so many seafarers were not aware of the STCW Manila amendments, the paper states. ‘It is easy to believe that crews should know about a new regulation because those in authority or in senior positions ashore do,’ it adds. ‘But this research indicates that the information regarding new regulations is not getting through to all crews.’

Unions and welfare organisations were seen by seafarers as good sources of information, but the dissertation questions whether they should be seen as the only source of information.

And, it goes on, even if information on new regulations is provided onboard, why is it then not understood? ‘Possibly new regulatory information is seen by crews as simply more work and so is given only a cursory adoption,’ it suggests, ‘or in multi-cultural crewing, an inadequate level of English and a fear of exposing this exists, allowing misunderstandings to occur.’

While extra crew could appear to be the obvious solution to tackle the problem of rest hours compliance, the paper argues that it is not the only answer and should be just part of a wider holistic approach to fatigue management. ‘There is a requirement for education and training that ensures seafarers and other stakeholders understand the importance of adequate rest and fatigue management with a positive policy by managers that looks at all aspects of the ship’s operation including manning and a more flexible approach to the traditional watch structure,’ it adds.

The paper also points to the ‘ambiguities’ in the current regulatory regime — with the MLC requirements setting maximum weekly work hours of 72 hours and a minimum of 77 rest hours, against the STCW Manila requirements which enable a maximum working week of 91 hours — or even 98, with a limited exemption.

It notes that a review of 24 accident investigation reports in which fatigue was cited as a key factor had shown only 12 contained recommendations or set out action taken, such as fatigue education or reviewing watch arrangements. ‘Crews, when faced with such limited action and a possible 91 or 98 hours working week may remain sceptical that the future will provide realistic and meaningful rest hour benefits,’ the paper adds.

Survey feedback had shown the depth of feeling among seafarers on work and rest time, it continues, and with social media making crew more aware of the different conditions existing in different companies they may be more able to move to ‘an employer of choice’ in future.

Perhaps, Capt Sanderson concludes, this is one reason why more than one-third of those in the survey were optimistic on the issues, compared with 21% who are pessimistic and 45% not sure.

H Safety experts have concluded that fatigue was a factor in causing New Zealand’s worst ever oil spill, when the

fl ag of convenience containership Rena ran aground in 2011.Experts at the Australian Transport Safety Bureau

(ATSB) analysed the work and rest patterns of the crew of the Liberian-registered vessel and determined that the master and second mate were at risk of at least mild fatigue impairment before the ship grounded off Tauranga in October 2011.

The ATSB found that a number of changes had been made to the ship’s passage plan during the voyage from Napier to Tauranga in an eff ort to reduce the distance and ensure an on-time arrival.

The report says the master’s fragmented sleep and work schedule placed him at signifi cant risk of fatigue impairment during the days preceding the accident, due to time of day for both work and sleep, sleep duration, and sleep fragmentation eff ects.

The ATSB also ruled that while there had been a ‘slight adaptation eff ect’ by the second mate to the night watch schedule, the extent of this was not suffi cient to overcome the time-of-day eff ects on performance during his 0000 to 0600 work periods.

The research was carried out by human factors specialists at ATSB on behalf of New Zealand’s Transport Accident Investigation Commission, which is undertaking a formal investigation into the incident.

Fatigue implicated in Rena spill

Shortsea manning ‘too low’L

Accident investigators in the UK are driving a global move to require all ships operating in the shortsea

trades to have at least two watchkeeping officers, in addition to the master.

Speaking at the International Chamber of Shipping conference in London last month, David Wheal, principal inspector with the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch, said it had become clear that extra manning is needed on many ships in the sector.

He pointed to two recent grounding incidents, both involving ships operated by officers on a six-on/six-off work and rest pattern, and described how the European Project Horizon research had identified the increased risk

of watchkeepers falling asleep on duty when they worked such rotas.

Failure to get sufficient rest can lead to impaired performance and diminished alertness, Mr Wheal pointed out, and seafarers’ ability to get decent sleep can also be affected by factors such a work patterns and the vessel’s operating schedule.

He questioned how confident owners and managers can be that their crews are properly rested and warned that there is extensive evidence to show that fatigue is at such a level that many officers are ‘an accident waiting to happen’.

Use of fatigue risk management tools — such as

the Martha package developed in the Project Horizon study — could help to reduce the dangers, Mr Wheal suggested. But, he added, ‘the MAIB believes that increased manning can provide the additional fix — particularly to cater for a dynamic situation where the master may be required to work outside the watch pattern’.

The MAIB is working on a paper to go to the International Maritime Organisation to require two watchkeepers on all shortsea ships — a measure which, Mr Wheal suggested, should help to deliver the necessary flexibility to ensure that fatigue management plans can be effective.

Picture: Maritime New Zealand

Picture: Maritime and Coastguard Agency

24-25_fatigue.indd 25 24/09/2014 17:07

IEngagement and disengagement of the turning gear is effected

by displacing the pinion and terminal shaft axially. To prevent the main engine from starting when the turning gear is engaged, the turning gear is equipped with a safety arrangement which interlocks with the starting air system.

Ready to give up on this article now? That’s how a lot of engineer offi cers feel when they read stodgy, confusing technical information — especially if

English is not their fi rst language. Dr Nadya Naumova of the Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy in Bulgaria has recently been researching this topic, and her fi ndings should make the industry reconsider the way that engineers are trained, and how technical manuals are written. In addition, she has discovered how a system of Standardised Technical English from the aerospace industry could offer a way forward for marine engineering documentation.

Meanwhile, Catherine Logie of maritime training firm Marlins has identified a related problem concerning technical communications between ship and shore. Her suggestion is that the principles of Plain English could be brought into the mix, and her own experience of running writing courses for maritime professionals has shown how effective this can be.

Both trainers are members of IMLA, the International Maritime Lecturers’ Association, and Dr Naumova’s research was presented to IMLA’s International Maritime English Conference this summer in Terschelling, Netherlands. Her paper first explores the challenges facing engineers when they try to translate scientific concepts from one language to another, because ‘the conceptual metaphors used in the cognitive process of learning science in the native language may differ from the conceptual metaphors underlying this conceptualisation process in other languages’.

For example, she says, there are two theories of electricity used around the world: the ‘electron flow’ and the ‘conventional current flow’. Engineers taught in English are encouraged to view electricity as a current cognitively analogous to ‘water flow’ or ‘freely moving crowd’, while the ‘conventional current flow’ relates electricity to voltage, which forces the ‘moving crowd’. So two engineers working side-by-side in a multinational crew could be visualising the same phenomenon in different ways, which may influence not only the terms but also the linguistic structures they use — and this could have a significant impact on the way they try to solve engineering problems together.

This issue of shipboard problem-solving is further complicated by the need for engineers to switch between different styles of English, points out Dr Naumova. It’s actually a very difficult skill (known as ‘reading for speaking’) to study a technical manual written in a formal, academic style and then discuss this with a colleague in the informal, conversational style

required for working together effectively.

It would help with both of these problems, suggests Dr Naumova, if marine engineering had its own standards, principles and vocabulary which could be taught at all nautical colleges worldwide and implemented in written documentation and shipboard discussions. But at present the industry can’t even agree on what to call a technical manual: ‘We speak of instruction manual, user guide, manufacturer’s handbook, operation manual, technical operating manual, instruction book, even project guide.’

Adding to the stylistic difficulties of this documentation, she notes, these texts usually have several authors, ‘who may (or may not) be engineers, native or non-native speakers of English. Translation might further reduce readability if technically-incompetent multiple translators convey meanings they don’t understand.’

There is a strong argument, says Dr Naumova, for developing and using a controlled simplified language and setting this as the standard language for onboard technical documentation. In the aerospace industry, she points out, such a language has already been approved as an international specification for the preparation of maintenance documentation, and it is known as Simplified Technical English (STE). ‘STE controls meaning by using approved vocabulary and terms which are further supplemented with an extensive set of rules for using that vocabulary in approved grammatical constructions.’ Here are just a few examples of the numerous STE guidelines:

zGeneral vocabulary words must be used only as the part of speech given: close is a verb, not an adverb. Therefore Do not go near the landing gear is acceptable, but Do not go close to the landing gear is not.

zOne word — one meaning.

Each word is restricted to one meaning: to fall means to move down by gravity, therefore the pressure decreases is acceptable, but the pressure falls is not.

zActive and passive voice — only active voice is accepted in procedures. Oil and gas are to be removed with a degreasing agent should be changed to: Remove oil and grease with a degreasing agent. Active voice should be used as much as possible in descriptions, thus instead of: The circuits are connected by a switching relay, writers should say: A switching relay connects the circuits.

If we apply STE guidelines to the extract at the beginning of this article, this is what we get:

Move the pinion and the end shaft axially to engage or disengage the turning gear. A safety device on the turning gear blocks the starting air system. It does not let the main engine start when the turning gear is engaged.

Most people would agree that the STE version is easier to read and understand, but is it enough of an improvement that the shipping industry should go to the trouble of developing its own version of STE, and of training technical writers to use it? Nadya Naumova certainly thinks so. She explains in her paper: ‘The most important positive impact of STE resides in the fact that it eliminates one of the potential diversities hampering engine room communication — it provides the same simple language for equipment that differs in design, manufacture and operational condition and for a group of people of different background knowledge and language proficiency.’ With respect to education, she adds, ‘it will provide the terminological minimum required for

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Don’t write off your writing skills

Dr Nadya Naumova of the Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy in Bulgaria

Catherine Logie , manager of UK-based maritime training fi rm Marlins

In all the effort to get multinational crews speaking English, have we forgotten how to write? Many safety-critical documents aren’t clear, say the experts, and even our routine communications could be better. SARAH ROBINSON reports…

“People at all levels of the shipping industry rely on information exchanged via writing”

26-27_language_SR edit.indd 26 24/09/2014 17:04

MARITIME ENGLISH


successful communication, the minimum to be mastered and tested respectively.’

The other potential positive result of a move to STE relates to spoken communication: ‘When the engine room team relies on a simple and readable text, there will be no need for the reader to transfer complex formal constructions into informal technical speech, because the writer of the text has already done the hard work, and the reader could use ready phrases. The circumstantial result will eventually be increased spoken communication, and a reduced number of accidents caused by communicative failures.’

IWhen Catherine Logie encountered her IMLA colleague’s paper at the

Terschelling conference, it really struck a chord. ‘Nadya made a persuasive argument for devel-oping STE in marine engineering,’ she says, ‘which is something very important for the industry to consider, especially as, for marine engineers, the ability to read and understand engineering manuals is an STCW competency. This issue of clear technical writ-ing goes beyond enginerooms, though, and it’s not just about multinational crews. I think we should be pushing harder throughout the industry to improve the standard of written communications.’

At Marlins, Ms Logie explains, she and her colleagues provide various types of short-course training for maritime professionals — some of whom are in senior roles. ‘They are experts in their field, and often their English language skills are very good, at least when it comes to speaking, listening and reading. But we have found

that their writing skills don’t always match up to their other abilities, which can suddenly prove to be a problem when they are promoted into a position where they have to produce more written documentation.’

An example of this is when senior officers move ashore to become superintendents or take up other roles in which they need to write technical reports.

‘It can prove a challenge for native speakers of English just as much as for non-natives,’ Ms Logie points out, ‘and many people really appreciate the opportunity to take a course focussing on their writing skills for perhaps the first time since they were at school.’

A good way to improve writing skills is to apply the principles of Plain English, she says. This doesn’t involve learning a rigorous system of simplification and standardisation such as STE — instead, it’s an opportunity to reconsider the clarity of your own writing and how your words come across to others. On a Marlins report-writing course, maritime professionals are taught the following tips:

zEnsure you write with the reader in mind. Before you write, think about what the reader knows already and what you need to explain.

zAdapt your style to what you are writing. The block capitals used in telex can offend readers if used in emails; overly formal language used in instructions can be confusing; a casual style is not suited to some cultures. Aim to be neutral.

zPlan what you want to say before you write.

zUse short sentences, simple words.

zLook at examples of the passive form — do you need to

use it? If you are not sure, try to rewrite the sentence using the active form and check how this simple change can give your writing instant impact.

zPlace important information first. In the first part of the sentence; in the first paragraph.

zGrammar, spelling and punctuation matter — mistakes can alter your meaning and give a poor impression.

zAlways check your writing before you finish.

These are based on principles developed by the Plain English Campaign, which has worked for over 30 years to persuade British workplaces to improve the clarity of their written communications (and which also offers courses to help workers brush up their writing skills).

‘Plain English’ doesn’t mean ‘dumbing down’, stresses the Campaign — writers are encouraged to find the right style for the particular document, and to write more elegantly.

Course participants at both Marlins and the Plain English Campaign study real-life examples of writing from their own field of expertise, and are often very pleased to see how much these texts can be improved by applying Plain English principles.

The following extracts, supplied by Marlins, are from a vessel inspection report and a company Safety Management System, and they highlight particular language issues often observed by Marlins tutors. Under each one Catherine Logie explains how we can use Plain English principles to analyse and improve the text:

WBMP and SOPEP were class endorsed however the generic company WBMP requires to be populated with information from the Class approved WBMP. Similarly, the EGP, VGS and SEEMP require data to be entered into them. CL: The use of many abbreviations assumes the reader is familiar with all the terms. Consider your reader’s knowledge: do you need to write the term in full the first time it is presented?

Garbage was observed to have been allowed to accumulate excessively by the previous crew.CL: Use of the passive form makes the sentence too long and complicated. ‘Excessively’ could be replaced by ‘too much’ which is simpler, more factual and gives better emphasis, e.g. ‘The previous crew allowed too much garbage to accumulate.’

Emergent from the familiarisation it was decided to renew the instructions for emergency steering, and to stencil signage to prevent critical valves from being kept shut inadvertently. CL: One long sentence which can be split into two short sentences. The choice of words

can be simplified and the meaning made more accurate. ‘Inadvertently’ could be simplified. Signs do not prevent valves from opening or closing, people do. Signs can only warn people so this could be rephrased as: ‘After the familiarisation, the (who?) decided to renew the instructions for emergency steering. (He) also stencilled signs warning that critical valves must not be shut accidentally.’

Doors required to be self-closing are not to be fitted with hold back hooks. CL: Although this sentence is short, it contains two passive forms, which makes it complex. The reader has to read to the end to get the important point. The reader also has to understand that ‘self-closing’ and ‘hold back’ describe a type of door and a type of hook. This could be rephrased more effectively as an instruction: ‘Hooks must not be fitted to hold back self-closing doors.’ Or ‘Do not fit hooks to hold back self-closing doors.’

The importance of careful span calibration cannot be over emphasised as the gas detection or analysing equipment will only give accurate readings if calibration is carried out strictly in compliance with the manufacturer’s instructions and using the correct calibration gases. CL: The language here is formal and the sentence is three lines long. Given that this is a critical safety message, perhaps it would be more effective to use ‘you’ to address the reader in the active form. E.g. ‘Careful span calibration is essential for accurate readings. You must

follow the manufacturer’s instructions exactly when using gas detectors and analysing equipment. You must also use the correct calibration gases.’ The repetition of ‘you must’ is not elegant but it is emphatic.

ISome people reading this article might be thinking, ‘Hmm, nouns, verbs,

actives, passives — that stuff isn’t really for me.’ But these are just the tools by which we can all edu-cate ourselves to do a better job. In the shipping industry, writing well isn’t just a courtesy to col-leagues; it’s a way to get across information that could save lives.

‘Consider the types of writing your job requires of you’ adds Ms Logie: ‘emails, SMS messages, meeting notes, reports, checklists, forms; perhaps you also need to write formal documentation including legal contracts, proposals and presentations. People at all levels of the shipping industry rely on information exchanged via writing, yet writing skills training seems rare in shipping companies employing seafarers and shore based staff.’

Whether we go as far as developing a form of Standard Technical English for marine engineering, or simply try to improve our written documentation on a day-to-day basis, we can all join the effort to communicate better within our industry. Take a writing course if you can get a place on one, or just follow the tips in this article — everyone can do their bit to achieve the IMO goal of clear and effective communications, and the sea will be a safer place for it.

When multinational engineers work together to solve a problem, they are often hampered by poorly-written technical manuals Picture: Eric Houri

“Consider the types of writing your job requires of you”

26-27_language_SR edit.indd 27 24/09/2014 17:03

SUSTAINABLE SHIPPING


MERCHANT NAVY OFFICER TRAINING

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How much is too much?J

Shipowners have warned that an ‘avalanche’ of environmental regula-

tions could set back the industry’s chances of a sustainable recovery.

Speaking at the International Chamber of Shipping’s annual conference last month, director of external relations Simon Ben-nett warned that the industry is facing a bill of at least US$500bn to comply with the forthcoming ‘green’ rules over the next decade.

Owners do not question the need for measures to address environmental problems, he said, but they are concerned not just by the costs, but also because they consider much of the new legisla-tion to be unclear and even unworkable.

There is real uncertainty over how the sulphur emission control areas due to come into force in January next year would be implemented in practice, he added, and owners have called for port state control authorities to adopt a harmonised approach to enforcement.

AP Moller-Maersk board mem-ber Claus Hemmingsen claimed the price difference between low sulphur and regular fuels could amount to as much as $15,000 per day for a tanker and more for a containership. He warned that there could be huge potential for unfair competition if sanctions do

not match the benefits of non-compliance. And, he added, there is little evidence of what the penal-ties for breaking the rules will be.

Mr Bennett said there are still big questions about the impact of the 0.5% global sulphur cap, due to take effect in 2020. Owners face uncertainty over fuel availability and price, as well as the viability of alternative compliance meth-ods such as scrubbers and LNG. Appeals for the IMO to bring for-ward a study on fuel availability from 2018 have failed, he added.

Mr Bennett said the ‘deep flaws’ in the Ballast Water Man-agement Convention have been demonstrated by the need to develop no fewer than 18 sets of guidelines to explain how it will work. ‘It shows the danger of adopting aspirational legislation, with little idea how it will be deliv-ered in practice,’ he added.

The absence of a robust type approval process meant that there are very real fears that the new regime will not be fit for pur-pose, he argued, and owners who have installed equipment in good faith ahead of the rules taking effect could be penalised by port state control.

Mr Bennett stressed that own-ers are not opposed to the princi-ple of cutting pollution, but the ICS believes that there should be impact assessment of new regula-

tions before they are brought in and more attention should be paid to timescales.

David Balston, director of pol-icy coordination at the UK Cham-ber of Shipping, said owners were facing problems arising from ‘aspirational’ rules. ‘We need to improve the methodology for development to make regula-tions more effective and worka-ble,’ he argued.

Robert Ashdown, from the

Cruise Lines International Associ-ation, suggested that the IMO should establish a technical panel to consider the effectiveness of proposed regulations before they are introduced.

Italian shipowner Maurizio d’Amico complained about the poor user interface for the new equipment. ‘We need simple, applicable regulations and a relia-ble piece of machinery and tech-nology,’ he added.

And John Rose, from the Confi-dential Human Incident Report-ing Programme, warned that the human element was often ignored in the regulatory process. ‘You can spend lots of money buy-ing the equipment, but the vast majority of owners and manufac-tures do not look at the systems to back it up and service it,’ he added. ‘The manuals for maintaining and operating the equipment are often far below the level required for modern seafarers.’

JMartin Dorsman, from the Dutch owners’ asso-ciation KVNR, said ship-

ping is still seen as a dirty industry despite the progress it has made in cleaning up its environmental record, and Patrick Verhoeven, of the European Community Ship-owners’ Associations, said the industry needs to have a clear and united voice in its dealings with regulators.

But John Maggs, from the Clean Shipping Coalition, told the conference that there is a case for further regulations to cover the industry. A greenhouse gas study carried out for the IMO had shown that emissions from ship-ping will continue to increase despite the introduction of meas-ures such as the energy efficiency design index and energy effi-ciency management plans, he

pointed out. And a presentation by Profes-

sor Tony Knap, from Texas A&M University, emphasised the way in which the maritime sector will be affected by climate change. More intense storms, increased wind speeds and higher wave heights could lead to more losses, he warned, while sea level increases could flood port areas, ocean acidification could impact on coatings, and changes in ocean currents could lead to new routes and sealanes.

Prof Knap questioned whether the retreating ice sheets will result in the forecast massive growth of shipping traffic in polar regions — suggesting that regula-tions to protect the environment will restrict operations.

Owners should also be aware of the growing concerns about the effects of ship noise upon marine life, he added. In the absence of reliable information about such problems, regulators will often adopt the precaution-ary principle, he cautioned.

However, Prof Knap argued, there is an opportunity for the shipping industry to engage posi-tively on environmental issues — not least by contributing to knowledge about the world’s climate through the VOS pro-gramme of voluntary meteoro-logical observations.

With a number of new regulations coming into force at once, ship owners are calling for a rethink...

The international shipping industry has committed to reducing its CO2 emissions, and other greenhouse gases, by 20% between 2013 and 2020

28-29_icpoll+nl.indd 28 24/09/2014 16:03

INLAND WATERWAYS


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Have you lost your pension?

LYear after year the UK government releases fi gures which show that the volume of inland waterborne freight has reduced. In 2012

goods moved on the UK inland waterways fell by 5% on the previous year to 1.4bn tonne-km — and when you take out the 15.5m on the River Thames alone, the fi gure for the rest of the UK is even more shocking.

Nigel Bowker is one of those who refuse to fade away and become just another government statis-tic. He and his colleagues own a lighterage company which mainly plies its trade from Liverpool to Run-corn, moving grain from the port to the mills. He has been involved in the industry, and in love with barges, since he was young.

‘I brought the last coal-burning steam tug on the River Mersey, the Kerne, over 40 years ago, after see-ing her when I was a schoolboy and fearing that she was going to be scrapped,’ he recalls. ‘People used to laugh at this schoolboy fawning over an old tug, but I’d been around ships all my life. In the end I got a group of friends together and we bought her.

‘Originally I wanted to be a Mersey River pilot, but having just started to wear glasses a few months before the interview, the then Board of Trade deemed that I didn’t meet the rigorous sight test require-ments. In those days that was it. So instead I bought one of the pilot launches!’

Nigel ended up working for the customs service, but began working towards getting his boatmaster’s licence.

Buying the Kerne fanned the flames of interest in the local lighterage industry and its fascinating variety of craft, and what started off as an attempt to write and publish a definitive history (still not achieved!) culminated in buying craft and eventually trading them.

Nigel is still part of the organisation that owns the Kerne, which celebrated her 101st birthday last year, and a recent lottery grant means that she can continue working in the future. However, he is now focussed on his two main companies — Viaduct Ship-ping and Mersey Tanker Lighterage, whose barges and tugs move dry cargo and bulk liquids in and around the Liverpool Docks, and to and from the Manchester Ship Canal

I met Nigel at Royal Seaforth grain dock in Liv-erpool, where he was waiting for one of his barges which was due to load grain and deliver it to the mill via Runcorn Docks. The Panary had been delayed behind other port traffic, which meant by the time she was loaded, the crew had missed the tide and would have to go to another area to dock for the night before travelling to Runcorn in the morning.

Onboard are Wayne Youd, the master, and mate Mark Parkinson, who easily match, if not surpass, Nigel’s passion for the UK’s waterways.

‘I live on a houseboat on the river,’ explains Mark. ‘My whole family do and my dad and his dad before him worked on barges. I’ll always be working on the river somehow.’

Wayne has also worked all his life on the UK water-ways, mainly at Liverpool and on the Manchester

Ship Canal. He says that the industry has been almost completely destroyed since he started at 16.

‘I used to work the Liverpool to Manchester Ship Canal,’ he says. ‘But when Peel Ports came in they made us all offers we couldn’t refuse. I don’t think we realised at the time that we were playing a part in ending a way of life.’

Mersey Tanker Lighterage and Viaduct Shipping are bucking the trend and continue to run barges up and down the canals of NW England — but this suc-cess can partly be attributed to Nigel’s ability to ‘think outside the box’ and find other uses for his small fleet.

‘We don’t simply move cargo,’ he explains. ‘Basi-cally when anyone wants something moved on the water and thinks it can’t be done, we do it!

‘We do a lot of firework displays for visiting cruise-ships, towing the fireworks platform out into the middle of the Mersey. This year and in 2012 we were involved in the finale of the Giants — taking them out onto the water — and a few years back we were engaged to remove the waste water from the Ark Royal when she was in port for five days and couldn’t discharge overside, as she was within the three mile limit.’

Despite these innovations, the core business is still moving grain around. Britain’s largest independ-ent bakery, Warburtons, still bakes in the area and ships grain in from its farms in Canada. These are then stored in silos in Liverpool and carried by barge to the mills for processing into flour.

‘One of the main advantages of moving grain by barge is that we can move it in small enough cargoes for the mills to process,’ Nigel explains. ‘The deepsea vessels obviously carry far too much for the mills to cope with and lorries don’t carry enough to be viable, before you even get into considerations of conges-tion and the environment.

‘The sad thing is that we can’t take it all the way into Manchester where it’s needed because of the costs. The way it is structured and the additional fuel costs make it not viable to go all the way. Age-old leg-islation still exists and can be very restrictive.

‘River charges are one of our biggest problems,’ he admits. ‘Our use of Liverpool docks is free, but if we enter the Manchester Ship Canal we have to pay, and some of the charging tariffs date back years. The whole system is in serious need of modernisation.

‘The problem gets worse because there is a whole generation of logistics managers who only under-stand roads so there’s no drive for modernisation. Most of the infrastructure is getting old but the only way to pay for new barges is a bank loan, and they want to see business plans with sales commit-ments in. It’s a cycle of not having money to improve the barges and promote the service, so there is no demand, which means no spare money to improve.’

In 2006, the government committed money to the improvement of the inland waterways industry in the UK, but Nigel — like most other companies working the waterways at the time — found it to be no use.

‘We looked at it, but it was like jumping through hoops, it was so difficult to get,’ Nigel continues. ‘The only companies who might have benefited were things like quarries who would consider moving to water transport for their own products. But when you are a third party you simply can’t get those types of guarantees of work.

‘If you did manage to secure a grant but then the offers of work did not materialise, you had to pay it back,’ he adds. ‘Very few companies could have afforded to take that risk.

‘We did buy a new barge and approached the gov-ernment for a freight facilities grant but they then told us that as we had already purchased it, we must already have sufficient funds and they wouldn’t sup-

port us. So now we’ve got a big debt to repay and no government support.

‘It was never a case of the industry not being interested,’ he adds. ‘We really need some govern-ment backing if we are to survive. It’s simply that the scheme they came up with was far too complicated.

‘There are examples of good schemes,’ Nigel notes. ‘In Holland they give you a grant to scrap your old barge to replace it with a new one. This keeps the fleet modern and commercially viable. The industry in the UK is crying out for someone to take a risk on it, and put in the investment it needs just to see what can be achieved.’

Nigel also believes the Maritime & Coastguard Agency has had a hand in the decline of the UK’s inland waterways industry. ‘They have brought a number of new regulations in which they say is to bring us in line with Europe. But they’ve used a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

‘It is now very expensive to move boats around the UK coast. I have recently costed a job to move a redundant cement plant, but they insisted we

needed a load line exemption and the young local pilot wouldn’t countenance taking a commercial ves-sel up the River Dee without a bow thruster. The job would simply not have made enough money to cover that and small estuarial craft have been working these waters in the past without these requirements.

‘Surveyors are also used to surveying deepsea ves-sels and they apply all the same ideals that they apply to those vessels. There are simply not the margins to be able to make those improvements and many of them are not really needed on a barge, but the MCA enforces it anyway.

‘They did try and consult with us over some new legislation,’ Nigel adds. ‘But again they applied the practices they use for the deep sea industry. They wanted operators to go down to Southampton for a number of meetings with them to give advice, but the industry isn’t that big and most of us are owner drivers. There is no one that can take that time out to sit and go through it with them. We need the MCA to think differently and give us the flexibility we need to be able to work with them.’

The last barge on the river?Mainland Europe makes extensive use of inland waterways, with more than one-third of Dutch freight carried on the country’s canals. Debbie Cavaldoro has been to Liverpool to see whether the barge industry is surviving in the UK…Nigel Bowker and his crew prepare the barge Panary for a load of grain Picture: Debbie Cavaldoro

Nigel believes there is still work on the river

28-29_icpoll+nl.indd 29 24/09/2014 16:03

HISTORIC SHIPS


w‘Business as usual’ was the misplaced and dan-gerous attitude towards

the functioning of the British Mercantile Marine at the begin-ning of the war. It was summed up by one participant: ‘...there were few visible signs to disquiet us, we hardly deviated from our peaceful sea-path, and had no concern for interference. We car-ried our lights ablaze, advertised our doings in plain wireless, announced our sailings and arrivals, and even devoted more than usual attention to keeping our ships as span in brave new paint and glistening varnish as the hearts of impressionable pas-sengers could desire.’

The immediate drain in personnel to the Naval Service left merchant ships with weak crews of new and raw hands. In order to keep up appearances, a form of moral camoufl age was employed, to show the neutrals with whom business was done that a mere war could hardly disturb the smooth running of the great Merchants’ Service.

The illusion was soon dispelled: ‘The mine that shattered Manchester Commerce stirred the base of our happy conventions; the cruise of the Emden set it swaying perilously; the torpedoes that sank Falaba and Lusitania blew the whole sham edifi ce to the winds, and we began to think of our ships in other terms than those of freight and passenger rates. Our conceptions of peaceful merchantmen were not the enemy’s!’

Crews set about making their ships less conspicuous. Grey became the order of the day: greys of every hue: ‘The nuances of our coatings were accidental. Poor quality paint and variable untimely mixings contributed, but it was mainly by crew defi ciency and incapacity that we came by our fi rst camoufl age. As needs must, we painted sections at a time. We sported suits of many colours, an infi nite variety of shades. Quite suddenly we realised that grey, in such an ample range – red-greys, blue-greys, brown-greys, green-greys – intermixed on our hulls, gave an excellent low-visibility colour that blended into the misty northern landscape.’

A feverish amateur enthusiasm sought yet more ways to trick the eye of the enemy. Suddenly, symmetry – which had hitherto been so admired – was shunned: ‘Pairs – even in masts, ventilators, rails and stanchions, boat groupings, samson posts, even in the shrouds and rigging – were spies to the enemy, and we arranged and screened as best we could. We wedged our masts forward and slung a gaff on the fore side of the foremast; we planked the funnel to look more or less upright; we painted a curling bow wash over the propeller and a black elaborate stern on the bows. We trimmed our ships by the head, and fl attered ourselves that, Janus-like, we were heading all ways!’

Few, including the enemy, were greatly deceived by these amateur efforts. The whole concept of ship camoufl age was eventually placed on an offi cial footing: ‘We were relieved when new stars of marine colouration arose, competent shore concerns that, on Government instruction, arrayed us in a novel war paint. Our rough and amateurish tricks gave way to the ordered schemes of the dockyard. Upon us like an

avalanche came this real camoufl age. Somewhere behind it all a genius of pantomimic transformation blazed his rainbow wand and fi xed us. As we came in from sea, dazzle-painters swarmed on us, bespattered creatures with no bowels of compassion, who painted over our cherished glass and teak-wood and brass port-rims – the last lingering evidences of our gentility. We learned of fancy colours known only in high art – alizarin, purple lake and hooker’s green.’

In 1914 the Scottish zoologist John Graham Kerr wrote to the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, outlining the principle of an unusual scheme of camoufl age for ships. Described as ‘disruptive’ as opposed to ‘concealing’, he qualifi ed it by compelling

example: ‘It is essential to break up the regularity of outline and this can be easily effected by strong contrasting shades... a giraffe or zebra or jaguar looks extraordinarily conspicuous in a museum but in nature, especially when moving, is wonderfully diffi cult to pick up.’

Kerr persuaded Churchill to adopt this form of camoufl age which he called ‘parti-colouring’. A general order to the British Fleet issued in November 1914 advocated the use of Kerr’s approach and it was applied in various ways to British warships. However, following Churchill’s departure from the Admiralty, the Navy reverted to plain grey, informing Kerr in mid-1915 that ‘various trials had been undertaken and that the range of conditions of light and sur-roundings rendered it necessary

to modify considerably any theory based upon the analogy of the coloration of animals.’

The Admiralty experimented with various camoufl age schemes and had considered a similar proposal to Kerr’s by the US artist Abbott H. Thayer. However, it was the scheme credited to the British artist Norman Wilkinson which was eventually adopted, becoming known essentially as Dazzle.

wNorman Wilkinson was a celebrated marine artist and illustrator of adver-

tising posters. He had been com-missioned to create paintings for the elegant smoking rooms onboard Titanic and Olympic. He also produced beautiful land-scape art. His work remains emi-nent in collections in the National Maritime Museum and the Royal

Academy of Arts.In 1915, Wilkinson began

service at sea in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. On submarine patrol he faced the dangers of the Gallipoli campaign.

In 1917 he returned to Britain to serve as lieutenant commander on a minesweeper, where he became all too aware of the threat from Germany’s U-boats. It was during this time that his idea for dazzle materialised. He felt that he could use his artistic skills to protect Allied ships.

Wilkinson understood that it was impossible to conceal a ship from the sights of a submarine commander. His radical proposal was that the ‘extreme opposite’ was the answer. He developed a scheme that used bold shapes and violent contrasts of colour and tone, the purpose of which was to promote visual confusion. The Admiralty was intrigued by his ideas. A ship was sent to him at Devonport Naval Base and he was ordered to oversee its painting to demonstrate the concept.

The Dazzle technique was intended to make it diffi cult for the enemy to estimate a ship’s type, size, speed and direction of travel, by disrupting the visual rangefi nders used for naval artillery. Rangefi nders were based on the coincident principle with an optical mechanism, operated manually to compute the range. The operator adjusted the mechanism until two half-images of the target lined up in a complete picture. Dazzle intended to hinder the process because clashing patterns looked abnormal even when two halves were aligned. This became more important when submarine periscopes included similar rangefi nders.

The Admiralty made Wilkinson the head of a new Dazzle Camoufl age Section. He assembled a team of artists and model-makers at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Hundreds of camoufl age schemes were developed for ships large and small. Each side of a ship had a different pattern. Bold shapes at bow and stern broke up the vessel’s form; angled lines suggested that distinctive smokestacks could be leaning in another direction; curves on the hull could be mistaken for the shape of the ‘bow wave’ of a fast-moving ship.

Painters were not alone in designing camoufl age; they were joined by other creative disciplines such as sculptors and set-designers. Most of the scale model designs were painted by women. These models were then placed on a revolving turntable and viewed through a periscope. This allowed Wilkinson’s team to see how the patterns distorted a ship’s form as if it were travelling in different directions. A foreman scaled up the designs for each vessel.

Wilkinson appointed dock offi cers at ports around Britain who supervised the painting of ships from the completed designs. In 1917, observers were astounded by harbours full of colourful ships. Rendered mostly monochrome in the black-and-white pictures of the day, their real colourful impact may yet be appreciated in the hundreds of model ships in the collection of the Imperial War Museum. The American Navy were also impressed and in 1918 they applied the technique to their own ships. One US newspaper described their fl eet as ‘a fl ock of sea-going Easter eggs’.

One dock artist in Britain was Edward Wadsworth. He was the founder of Vorticism, a British art movement which grew out of Cubism. In some artistic circles the Dazzle concept has been described as a quintessentially Cubist technique, then a revolutionary movement in modern art, made famous by artists such as Picasso and Braque. Norman Wilkinson was, however, anything but a modernist.

Not only was Dazzle painting credited to a marine artist but dazzle-painted ships came to have a particular fascination for artists who enjoyed painting their bold designs. Edward Wadsworth supervised the camoufl aging of over 2,000 ships. After the war he painted a series of canvases of dazzle ships, based on his wartime work. In WW2, it was to be another artist, (Sir) Peter Scott, who as First Lieutenant on the destroyer HMS Broke, was responsible for devising a camoufl age scheme for use in the Atlantic, the aim of which was to make a ship less visible at night to U-boats on the surface.

In WW1, over 4,000 British merchant ships were painted in Dazzle, which was also applied to 400 naval vessels. Although a profusion of schemes was implemented, so many factors were involved that it was impossible to determine which were important. At the very least, Dazzle was a morale booster: crews reported feeling safer serving on such ships, despite the fact that its effectiveness was never objectively proven. Within a few years of the end of the war Britain’s camoufl aged ships were restored to their plain liveries.

A little bit of razzle dazzle

Two historic ships in London and Liverpool have been repainted in First World War ‘dazzle’ colours. TREVOR BOULT explains how artists were brought in to turn British ships into floating optical illusions to confuse the enemy…

A depiction of the dazzled RMS Olympic arriving in Halifax Nova Scotia in 1919. It was painted by Arthur Lismer. The abstract patterns in dazzle camoufl age have inspired many artists since their use during World War I and World War II

HMS President (1918), which served as a Dazzle Ship during the First World War, is currently on display on the River Thames after being ‘dazzled’ by German artist Tobias Rehberger. The ship is also hosting a number of talks as part of the 14-18 Now art commissions to commemorate the outbreak of World War One.

30_dazzle.indd Sec2:30 24/09/2014 16:04

MARITIME WELFARE


KLast summer, Regina Catrambone and her husband Chris were

onboard the 24m motor yacht Pepito, crossing from Lampedusa to Tunisia while cruising in the Mediterranean, when they spot-ted something that disturbed them fl oating in the water.

It was a discarded winter jacket and it lay in the water as if some ghost was wearing it. They asked Marco Cauchi, the yacht’s captain, how he thought it got there and he told them it probably belonged to a refugee drowned at sea trying to escape from Africa into Europe.

‘This sparked many discus-sions about the experiences he had witnessed throughout the years,’ Regina recalled. ‘At around the same time, the Pope held his first official visit to Lampe-dusa, from where he launched an appeal to citizens of the world to lend their contribution to this issue. My husband and I felt per-sonally compelled to take heed of the Papal message.’

More than 20,000 men, women and children are thought to have drowned in the last 20 years seeking to cross the Medi-terranean. The United Nations’ refugee agency, UNHCR, says that some 2,500 people have died or gone missing at sea so far this year — and more than 2,200 of them since the beginning of June.

UNHCR estimates that around 19,000 migrants have arrived in Malta from Libya since 2002. Last year it was reported that about 30% are still on the island, which has a local population of some 417,000.

The crossings to Europe are mostly organised by criminal gangs operating largely from Libya. Migrants are placed on rickety unseaworthy boats with very few resources in the hope

that they will be rescued by authorities before they dehy-drate or drown.

When the Catrambones, who live in Malta, heard news in Octo-ber 2013 that more than 400 migrants had drowned near the Italian island of Lampedusa, they were moved to do something more positive instead of just watching from the sidelines. Buy-ing a boat and tackling the prob-lem at sea seemed to them the best way forward.

So, putting their own money where their mouth is, the couple have chosen to personally fund the conversion of a 40m former fishing trawler into a mercy ship they call Phoenix. They found her in Norfolk, Virginia, where she had been used as a research vessel and later by the US govern-ment for training purposes. The refit was started in the US, but was concluded at Bezzina Shipyard in Malta.

They have named the opera-tion that runs the yacht Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) and based it in Malta. Operating from the island nation, but flying the Belize flag, the blue-hulled yacht may look a little scruffy, but she and her crew have a heart of pure gold.

KPhoenix carries two sea-going RIB tenders and two spotter drones which

fl y sorties to seek out migrants at sea in a makeshift craft. Chris, who is from New Orleans, is able to fl y each of the two Schiebel S-100 camcopters, or drones, off the custom-made fl ight deck on the yacht’s stern.

He explained how the drone’s HD-quality, night vision and ther-mal imaging cameras are powerful enough to read a piece of paper in a passenger’s hand from the air. ‘We are making history in many ways by being the first civilian ship to use such grand technology,’ he added. ‘We hope that this is going to change the environment for res-cue at sea. We’re innovators here. We’re trying to do something that no one else has been able to do.’

When they come across a migrant boat in international waters, the crew of Phoenix con-tact the nearest authorities, com-municating the position and the nature of distress. They are obliged then to wait for further instructions, but they use that time to transfer food and water using the tenders they carry. Life-jackets, blankets and offers of medical assistance are also made as appropriate. Phoenix carries a

paramedic onboard, working from a well-equipped medical bay.

Last month whilst on patrol, the Phoenix crew spotted a boat in distress carrying approxi-mately 300 migrants. Immedi-ate contact was established with MRCC Rome, who directed that the migrant boat be intercepted. Hav-ing reported back on the state of the vessel and the people onboard, Phoenix was eventually directed to assist by taking the migrants onboard.

All 83 women and children were transferred via RIBs where they were given first aid by the two paramedics onboard. Mean-while, the Italian warship Borsini approached the location and, using MOAS and Italian Navy RIBs, the rest of the migrants were all provided with lifejackets and transferred.

Later that same day Phoenix again became involved in another rescue operation, this time dis-covering a wooden boat carrying approximately 400 migrants. RIBs were used to transfer these migrants to the Italian vessel.

The migrants were mostly Syr-ians, Palestinians and Eritreans, among them a two day old infant, and included a number of people from Damascus who stated that they had sold their worldly pos-sessions to make the trip. One of those rescued said he sold his house and car and spent $15,000 to get his family away from the conflict.

The MOAS team seek to serve as an offshore aid station, at the dis-posal of both MRCC Rome and RCC Malta. ‘As a first aid station at sea, we want to be out at sea as much as possible,’ a spokesman says. ‘To remain truthful to our mission, we do not act as a ferry service between Libya and Europe. Our aim is always to disembark as soon

as possible and go back to assist those in distress.

‘Far from being against the law, saving lives is the obligation of any vessel at sea according to inter-national law,’ he pointed out. ‘The only difference between MOAS and a fishing boat or a merchant vessel is that we have made this our mission: we are at sea purely to help locate and assist vessels in distress.’

Phoenix carries a qualified and paid crew of six, comprising cap-tain, first officer, chief engineer, second engineer and two seamen.

There is also an operational team of eight people responsible for search and rescue, all of whom have maritime experience: an onboard operations officer, assis-tant operations officer, one secu-rity officer, two paramedics, and three Schiebel drone operators. The two groups are separate but indivisible.

Regina and Chris also take it in turns to go to sea on the Phoenix and despite being a civilian now, the director of the project was, until recently, the commander of the Armed Forces of Malta. Mem-bers of the crew also have experi-ence in the armed forces, mari-time rescue and medicine.

With the operational costs, including the costs of the drones, standing at roughly €350,000 per month and the initial 60-day mis-sion costing the couple over €2m, the Cantrambones say they have now exhausted their budget and there is a desperate need for more funds. They are hoping to crowd source extra funding for MOAS to extend the seagoing mercy mis-sion into a year-round operation.

fFurther information: www.moas.eu

Welfare agencies have warned about the humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean as thousands of refugees seek to cross the sea in unsafe vessels. MICHAEL HOWORTH reports on a maritime initiative which seeks to provide vital frontline support…

A saviour from the sea

Migrant children are checked by the medical staff onboard Phoenix

Water is thrown to a boat carrying migrants to deal with dehydration until more help arrives All pictures: MOAS

A drone returns to the Phoenix after searching the waters for any boats of migrants in distress

31_phoenix.indd 31 24/09/2014 16:05

by Trevor Boult

FHistorically, in New Zealand the Auckland-based

Northern Steamship Company had, along with many lesser shipowners, carried passengers in its vessels servicing the ports of Northland and the Bay of Plenty towards the northern extremity of the North Island. It had also run excursions and, in January 1904, the company decided to inaugurate the fi rst summer cruise for those in search of a different adventure.

Of this period, a chronicler observed: ‘After a little over half a century of breaking in a new country it was time for a rest. It was time to raise eyes above the level of the plough, the kauri gum spear, the seamstress’s needle, the shop counter or the ledger on the raised sloping desk. It was time for a holiday.’

The Northern Steamship Company vessel Ngapuhi made this possible. For fi ve golden Edwardian summers she made a cruise along the Northern Coast. People from all over New Zealand assembled at Kings Wharf in Auckland for the annual cruise, which became the social event of the holiday calendar.

In 1904 a voyage to the Bay of Islands was considered as much an adventure as a latter-day trip to Fiji. Northland was still a frontier country, but the Northern Steamship Company had agents and representatives in every harbour, river and creek in the region.

Named after the Maori tribe whose domains were centred on the Bay of Islands, Ngapuhi’s normal run was a thrice-weekly return from Auckland to Whangarei. A seaworthy and effi cient vessel, she adapted herself well to the occasional guise as cruise ship. Purpose-built in Dundee in 1900, she admirably combined

the qualities of cargo carrier, overnight passenger steamer and holiday excursion vessel. She carried stores for the growing farming community, goods for the shops, and cattle and sheep to stock the country as it was wrested from the bush.

Ngapuhi was transformed for the annual cruise. Everything possible was provided to assist the travellers’ enjoyment — horses for excursions ashore, visits to sawmills, dams, kauri forests and gum diggings; more leisurely forms of relaxation were picnics and sightseeing walks. All-important was the convivial company of some 50 fellow Edwardians experiencing the new freedom and ease which followed the strict Victorian era. Not that the journey was taken lightly; correct dress was essential and cartwheel hats, long full skirts, winged collars and ties were the order of the day.

Boats and launches were laid on for side trips. The sportsmen went ashore, catching suffi cient

fi sh to provide breakfast for all on board. Pockets and purses bulging with pipes and tobacco, notebooks and sketchpads, the fi rst wave of explorers headed for the beach. An onboard darkroom was set up for the use of amateur photographers. They needed to be more than merely keen on their hobby. Nothing less than enthusiasm was required to carry the cumbersome apparatus via the boats and over rocky terrain. By their efforts, New Zealand archives have a timeless legacy of imagery ranging from the rugged outposts of colonial settlement to the latest in fashions.

A string band was provided to set the tone for the evenings. In the galley the cooks used all their skill to control a coal stove in a confi ned space and produced meals comparable with those served in the best hotels in Auckland.

Towards the end of the cruise, an excursion highlight by horses and buggies took travellers to what was considered a most

important establishment: the Pacifi c Cable Station, on the shores of Doubtless Bay. Manned by a staff of 13, passengers marvelled at the technology which could handle simultaneously one message each way.

On the fi nal day, Mansion House Bay became the venue for a rowing regatta, using the ship’s boats, with races between crew departments, and also between passengers.

Under the distinguished command of Captain Stephenson, the Ngapuhi’s summer cruise played a signifi cant role in introducing the adventurous to the front line of settlement. Then, with roads and railways snaking north, and the advent of the motor tour, Ngapuhi’s brief reign as the centre of social activity in the North ended.

However, for those fi ve seasons the annual trip was the cruise. It was a little over a week of a completely different lifestyle — all for £7.

OFFWATCH ships of the past

QUICK CLUES Across1. Moisten air (8) 5. Shoe tip (6)9. Pool sport (5,4)11. Go into (5)12. Autocracy (12)15. Clammy (4)16. Not fi nished (10)18. Censure (10)19. Andean people (4)21. Not legal (12)24. Unmentionable (5) 25. Reserve (9)26. Intelligent (6) 27. Goal top (8)

Down1. Scream (4)2. Chess call (4)3. Knock off tracks (6)4. Undecided about ballot (8,5)6. Past harvesting (8)7. Cheap and nasty-looking (10) 8. Bordering (10)

10. Marine propulsion (8,5)13. Fanciful (10) 14. Sacrosanct (10)17. Swamp (8)20. Pillory (6)22. Reject (4)23. Cherished (4)

CRYPTIC CLUES Across1. Musical Dame, not born as

Poppins, strips in French restaurant (8)

5. Drove around capital of Uruguay as you do when ravenous (6)

9. At the same time change main wheel (9)

11. Village’s environmental centre (5)

12. Obsessive when it comes to diseases (12)

15. An old soldier’s suit to post (4)

16. A sister who could petrify Dreyfus supporter in Italian village (10)

18. Sort out in-tray Luis, so prone to self-absorption (10)

19. Give up land in Palace de Versailles (4)

21. School run by pupils could make an angry nation (5-7)

24. Incidental fi lm role, bye (5)

25. Ladder man tumbled over in his sleep (9)

26. ‘The burning torch in yonder — stands’ (Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part I) (6)

27. Decompose, yet inter for ever (8)

Down1. Go through lights … (4)2. … and take number one

position, for a starter (4)3. Go around with pen and

letter from war, encrypted (6)

4. Sound of a horse with black bonnet going around these people’s area (13)

6. Attractive enough to be giving a ring (8)

7. Too much of the sea captain — in the galley that is (10)

8. Phone boss, of the criminal type (10)

10. An age when thin gentlemen were all about (13)

13. As all-knowing men sit, coin a word for it (10)

14. Nine in Nazi police had horn for a fi rearm (3-7)

17. Somewhat of a gas, slide on ice (8)

20. Reading book for elementary school, before painting … (6)

22. … laid around, in a surreal sort of way (4)

23. A bit nervous about pushing boundaries (4)

J Crossword answers are on page 46.

Telegraph prize crosswordThe winner of this month’s cryptic crossword competition will win a copy of the book Waverley Steam Navigation Company Compiled by Alistair Deayton and Iain Quinn (reviewed on the facing page).

To enter, simply complete the form right and send it, along with your completed crossword, to: Nautilus International, Telegraph Crossword

Competition, 1&2 The Shrubberies, George Lane, South Woodford, London E18 1BD, or fax +44 (0)20 8530 1015. You can also enter by email, by sending your list of answers and your contact details to: [email protected] date is Friday 17 October 2014.

Name:

Address:

Telephone: Membership No.:

1 How many cruiseships are there in service in the world fl eet at present?

2 What is the average gross tonnage of ships in the world cruise fl eet?

3 How many cruiseships in the current world fl eet are of 150,000gt and above?

4 Which EU member state has the busiest coastal shipping trades (in terms of tonnage moved)?

5 Which port in the busiest in Europe in terms of inward and outward passenger numbers?

6 What is Germany’s share of global shipbuilding orders?

J Quiz answers are on page 46.

50 YEARS AGOA Norwegian company has started operating a 29,300dwt bulk carrier on an experimental basis with a crew of 33, compared with the normal complement of 42 for such a ship. The trials follow a study group established by owners, unions and government agencies to look at ways of bringing manning regulations into line with technical developments. It would be short-sighted of us ignore these international trends, and the MNAOA accepts that on some ships it may be technically possible to sail with a smaller crew where automated devices are provided. However, owners cannot expect to get away with reducing their crews without demonstrating that there is also a genuine reduction in workload and recognising that maintenance standards may deteriorate with smaller crews MN Journal, October 1964

25 YEARS AGONUMAST has expressed concern about a case in which the British master and fi rst offi cer of a ship which rammed a North Sea oil rig were jailed last month. The two men were sentenced to three months and six months in prison after the court heard that the fi rst offi cer was asleep in his cabin when he should have been on watch. He had gained only 14 hours of sleep in the previous 96 hours, and the court ruled that the master should have ensured a better watch system was in place on the Bermuda-fl agged Irving Forest. NUMAST said the case was another example of the criminalisation of the maritime profession and it questioned the grounds for holding masters ultimately responsible for the watchkeeping patterns onboard their vessels The Telegraph, October 1989

10 YEARS AGONUMAST has met transport minister Alistair Darling to call for action to prevent a potential crisis in UK maritime employment and training. In an hour-long meeting at the Department for Transport’s headquarters in London, the Union urged the minister to introduce new measures to boost British seafaring numbers. Mr Darling told NUMAST that he was ‘bothered’ about the failure of the tonnage tax to deliver the promised increases in cadet training and he promised that the Union’s concerns would be considered as part of a review of the tonnage tax scheme. General secretary Brian Orrell said tonnage tax had reversed the decline of the UK-fl agged fl eet, but the number of cadets in training had fallen by more than 7% between 1997 and 2003 and the number of British offi cers was less than it was before tonnage tax was introduced The Telegraph, October 2004

THEQUIZ

Steamship which opened up New Zealand’s north islands


32_offwatch.indd 32 24/09/2014 16:05

OFFWATCH books

A welcome addition to the annals of MN at war Operation PedestalBy Brian James CrabbShaun Tyas, £24.00ISBN: 978 19077 [email protected]

KMerchant Navy war veterans quite rightly object when

their contribution is overlooked or downplayed — and it’s a sad truth that some remembrance events still aren’t getting it right. But the MN certainly hasn’t been forgotten by the history books. Many a month sees a new wartime narrative arrive at the Telegraph offi ces, and this time the topic is Operation Pedestal, the convoy to relieve the stricken island of Malta in 1942.

Author Brian Crabb is a former Merchant Navy engineer, and his father Percival ‘Buster’ Crabb took part in Operation Pedestal as a Royal Navy stoker. Having found that research into the Second World War helped him feel closer to his late father, Crabb Jr took up historical writing a few years ago, and for his fi fth book he has turned to the Allies’ gruelling eff ort to bring life-saving supplies through some of the heaviest bombardment of the war.

Nine years in the researching and writing, Operation Pedestal is very thorough, with background information, blow-by-blow accounts of events, witness testimonies and

dramatic photographs. Appendices record those lost on both sides, as well as listing the honours awarded for bravery, and giving technical information such as ship particulars.

It’s a book which would probably best be enjoyed by Second World War history buff s rather than newcomers to the subject, but that’s not a criticism; this is a grown-up history telling a painful and heroic story in the detail it deserves.

Substantial overhaul enhances classic guideNicholls’s Seamanship & Nautical KnowledgeRevised by Capt G.M. PepperPublished by Brown, Son & Ferguson, £55ISBN: 978 18492 70519

KFirst published in 1905, this remarkable guide for offi cers

and cadets continues to fl ourish in

the 21st century with a new and expanded version — the 29th edition.

Captain Graham Pepper has done a marvellous job in overhauling this classic handbook to refl ect the sweeping changes in shipping in the decade since the last edition — not least new technology such as ECDIS and the relentless march of new regulation.

The chapter on life-saving has been completely revised, and signifi cant changes have been made

to the section on fi re-fi ghting to refl ect amendments to the SOLAS Convention, while there is a very valuable and topical new chapter on environment-related rules and requirements.

The reader can still fi nd all the traditional material on basics such as ropes, lifting gear, anchors and cables, stability, and ship design and construction, and there is excellent material on the core principles of ship operation — all of which is aimed at covering most aspects of seamanship to a suffi cient standard for all grades of examination.

Capt Pepper’s refi t should ensure that this will remain in service as a standard guide for seafarers for many years to come.

Encouraging tale of sail, told with beautiful illustrationsTall Ships Today: their remarkable story

By Nigel Rowe, with Ron Dadswell, Colin Mudie and Michael RauworthAdlard Coles Nautical, £30ISBN: 978 14729 03464

KLast month more than 50 tall ships visited Greenwich to take

part in the biggest event of its kind in London in over 25 years, marking the culmination of the biggest international tall ship sailing race held solely in English waters. The regatta sparked renewed passion for tall ships in the UK and a fl urry of books on the subject.

This 225-page hardback recognises the tall ships of today and their role in modern society. The foreword is by The Duke of Edinburgh, who extols the virtues of experiencing life at sea onboard a tall ship and the satisfaction of arriving at one’s chosen destination after a hard passage or at the end of a race.

The most impressive chapter is undoubtedly the one devoted to the ships from around the world in operation today. Each one has a dedicated page with details of the vessel’s normal operations, technical specifi cation and colour photographs of the vessel in action.

The book is supported by

Sail Training International, and unsurprisingly has a large chapter devoted to young people and the personal development opportunities that exists on today’s ships. It is also quick to point to how these are often used to encourage young people to choose seafaring as a career.

Other sections look at tall ship racing, funding and onboard partying! It is light on text and heavy on pictures, but is worth the price tag for the images alone. It is the perfect combination of historical romanticism and modern-day excitement which makes today’s tall ship experience valuable for young and old alike.

The New PiratesBy Andrew PalmerPublished by IB Tauris, £22.50ISBN: 978 18488 56332

KWritten by the chief executive of Idarat, one of the biggest maritime security fi rms,

this chunky book sets out to provide a defi nitive analysis of present-day piracy and to offer thoughts on its causes and potential solutions.

It’s a thoughtful work, and Andrew Palmer argues strongly that a proper understanding of piracy is essential for us all, as it tells us much about the world in which we live, the political and strategic signifi cance of globalised economies, and the core — but hugely unappreciated — role of shipping.

A central theme of the book is the way in which piracy has developed into a complex crime, with the author suggesting that it has become a sophisticated and organised global business. Much of this, he argues, is down to the ‘game-changing’

nature of Somali piracy, and the book examines the factors which fuelled the remarkable increase in attacks in the region a decade ago.

Unsurprisingly for a security fi rm boss, Mr Palmer examines the vulnerability of merchant ships to attack — noting the many choke points on busy shipping lanes and the changes in pirate tactics which resulted in so many vessels being boarded and hijacked. He explains some of the legal and political constraints which added to the complexity of responding to the evolving threats of piracy — including the fraught issues of insurance and ransom payments, and the diffi culties in bringing captured pirates to justice. And he makes a strong case for owners to adopt effective defence measures — not only to protect their crews but also to reduce the risk of being sued.

There are some brief but nevertheless shocking accounts of the appalling treatment of seafarers held hostage; and accounts of a number of notable incidents, including the Maersk Alabama, give some insight into the impact on crew members.

But while the book gives signifi cant space to the sort of security measures that should be adopted in high-risk areas, it would have been good to hear more from those who are most at the sharp end of piracy.

Some readers — and especially those who work in the waters off west Africa — may also fi nd the book has too great a focus on Somalia, under-playing the signifi cance of the growing dangers in the Gulf of Guinea and the long-standing threats of ships in SE Asia.

But Mr Palmer is clear in delivering a stark warning about the potential consequences of failing to deal properly with the problem. The world cannot afford to ignore the potential for piracy to spread into new areas, he suggests, even presenting the scenario of Caribbean cruise passengers selecting their ship ‘on the basis of its security, rather than on the size of its swimming pool or other onboard entertainments.’

At a time when the world is facing huge challenges from climate change, resource shortages, over-population and global economic pressures, international crime such as piracy affects everyone, and Somalia provides ‘a warning of what happens when nations fragment and the basest elements take control.’

Waverley Steam Navigation CompanyCompiled by Alistair Deayton and Iain QuinnAmberley Publishing, £20ISBN: 978 14456 41553fAmberley-books.com

KThis book tells the story of the Waverley Steam Navigation Company — the

charitable organisation that bought the Waverley paddle steamer for £1 in 1974. It is a collection of personal memories charting the original gifting of the Waverley by Caledonian MacBrayne, her diffi cult fi rst year and eventual restoration, and her 30-plus years spent as visitor attraction — a career which now spans more years than her fi rst incarnation.

At least 10 people were involved in contributing facts, pictures and memoirs for the book. The most detailed of these are 80 pages of memories from Captain D.L. Neill. There are the usual middle pages devoted to pictures of the Waverley and other similar vessels, many of which are in colour. As these come mainly from those devoted to the preservation of the vessel, they show a lot of people enjoying their time onboard rather than just shots of the vessels in the water.

What is confusing about this history is the time

period covered. There is much talk of the book celebrating the company’s 40th anniversary and yet there is not much detail after 2000, save for a comment on the lottery grant which has secured the Waverley’s future.

A possible reason for this may be hidden in the introduction by one of the authors. He charts his personal history with the Waverley where he was on retainer until 2009. After this point he states that although he is still involved with the ship, ‘life moves on’ and perhaps more mysteriously that ‘sadly the atmosphere has changed’.

This, and the swift summing up of the ‘Captain Memoirs’ which end in 1998, gives the feeling that something is amiss that you can’t put your fi nger on. If there is ‘nothing to see here’ why not devote more pages to those involved today? If there is something we ‘don’t need to know’, why not simply write a 30-year history instead?

It is sad that this intrigue provides a distraction to what is a wonderful book. The stories told are engaging and the passion that those involved had for the Waverley, right from the start, shines from every page.

And a review of this book would not be complete without a passing mention for the last page. Among the authors’ ‘fi nal thoughts’ is a section on business principles, which is basically a list of motivational slogans from marketeers. It’s rather quaint, a little odd, and not to be missed. Which rather nicely sums up the entire book!

th the At a time when the world

period covered There is much talk of the book


Analysing how piracy changed our industry

Eccentric but enjoyable tribute to a well-loved vessel

BOOK SAVINGSTelegraph readers can buy the books reviewed on these pages at a whopping 25% discount on publisher’s price through the Marine Society’s online shop.

gTo qualify for this off er, readers need to make their purchase at www.marinesocietyshop.org. Click on the ‘Books of the month’ button with the Nautilus logo to see the books featured in the Telegraph, and use the promotional code Nautilus when buying your book.

If a book reviewed in the Telegraph isn’t listed yet in the Marine Society shop, just use the website’s ‘contact us’ button to request the title. The Society aspires to respond the same day with the best price and availability. Most titles can be secured within 24 hours.

33_books_SR edit.indd 33 24/09/2014 16:39

FOR CANDIDATESnomination form AThis form MUST be completed by the candidate and in addition may be used by one or more supporters. It MUST be returned, by 1700hrs on Monday 24 November 2014, to:

Nautilus International Head Office, 1&2 The Shrubberies, George Lane South Woodford, London E18 1BD.tel: +44 (0)20 8989 6677 fax: +44 (0)20 8530 1015

Please complete in BLOCK CAPITALS

TO BE COMPLETED BY THE CANDIDATE

Electoral Category

Name Mem No

Address

Postcode Tel no

Rank Company

I wish to stand for election in the 2015 Council elections. I declare that I am afull member of Nautilus International in the above mentioned category andam in conformity with the rules of the Union.

Signature Date

TO BE COMPLETED BY SUPPORTERSI wish to support the nomination of the above named for election to the Council in the election category shown. I confirm that I am a full member.

1. Name Mem No

Address

Postcode Tel no

Rank Company

Signature Date

2. Name Mem No

Address

Postcode Tel no

Rank Company

Signature Date

3. Name Mem No

Address

Postcode Tel no

Rank Company

Signature Date

4. Name Mem No

Address

Postcode Tel no

Rank Company

Signature Date

Nautilus Council Elections 2015

VOOR KANDIDATENnominatieformulier ADit formulier MOET worden ingevuld door de kandidaat en mag eventueelworden gebruikt door één of meer steunbetuigers.Retourneer het ingevulde formulier UITERLIJK op maandag 24 november 2014om 17.00 uur t.a.v.:

Nautilus International Head Office, 1&2 The Shrubberies, George Lane South Woodford, London E18 1BD, VK.tel: +44 (0)20 8989 6677 fax: +44 (0)20 8530 1015

Invullen in BLOKLETTERS

IN TE VULLEN DOOR DE KANDIDAAT

Kiescategorie

Naam Lidm.nr.

Adres

Postcode Tel.nr.

Rang Bedrijf

Ik stel mij verkiesbaar voor de Councilverkiezingen 2015. Ik verklaar bij deze dat ik eenregulier lid (‘gewoon lid’ volgens statuten Nautilus International) van NautilusInternational in de bovenstaande categorie ben en aan de regels van de Union voldoe.

Handtekening Datum

IN TE VULLEN DOOR STEUNBETUIGERSIk ondersteun de nominatie van de bovenvermelde persoon voor deCouncilverkiezingen in de vermelde kiescategorie. Ik bevestig dat ik een regulier lid(‘gewoon lid’ volgens statuten Nautilus International) ben.

1. Naam Lidm.nr.

Adres

Postcode Tel.nr.

Rang Bedrijf

Handtekening Datum

2. Naam Lidm.nr.

Adres

Postcode Tel.nr.

Rang Bedrijf

Handtekening Datum

3. Naam Lidm.nr.

Adres

Postcode Tel.nr.

Rang Bedrijf

Handtekening Datum

4. Naam Lidm.nr.

Adres

Postcode Tel.nr.

Rang Bedrijf

Handtekening Datum

Councilverkiezingen Nautilus 2015

FOR SUPPORTERSnomination form BThis form can be completed by one or more supporters. More than one form canbe used. The candidate MUST, in addition, complete, sign and return a Form A.Forms MUST be returned, by 1700hrs on Monday 24 November 2014, to:

Nautilus International Head Office, 1&2 The Shrubberies, George Lane South Woodford, London E18 1BD.tel: +44 (0)20 8989 6677 fax: +44 (0)20 8530 1015

Please complete in BLOCK CAPITALS

TO BE COMPLETED BY SUPPORTERSElectoral Category

Name of Candidate I wish to support

Candidate’s Address

Postcode Candidate’s Mem No

1. I wish to support the nomination of the above named for election to the Councilin the election category shown. I confirm that I am a full member.

Name Mem No

Address

Postcode Tel no

Rank Company

Signature Date


Name Mem No

Address

Postcode Tel no

Rank Company

Signature Date


Name Mem No

Address

Postcode Tel no

Rank Company

Signature Date


Name Mem No

Address

Postcode Tel no

Rank Company

Signature Date

Nautilus Council Elections 2015

ANautilus International is a member-led organisa-tion with an elected governing body, the Council.

It’s vital that the Council includes people with a broad range of backgrounds, opinions and expertise, so its meetings are organised with the members’ work commitments in mind.

As a Council member, you will be asked to attend meetings four times a year at an easily-accessible loca-tion, and you can also volunteer to take part in specialist policy and governance work in areas of interest to you.

AThe Council is made up of serving maritime and inland waterways professionals, each elected to

serve a four-year term. 23 of the 32 places are for members of the UK branch, eight places are for members of the Netherlands branch, and one is for a member of the Switzerland branch. Elections are held on a rolling basis, with about half the places coming up for election each time.

The table opposite shows the overall number of seats and the vacancies for election in 2015, plus the split between NL, UK and CH. Candidates must be full, paid-up Nautilus members (which includes offi cer trainees).

ATo stand, fi rst check there is a vacancy in your cate-gory. Then fi ll in the top half of Form A and get four

other full paid-up members in your branch to add their names, addresses, membership numbers, signature and date of signing in the appropriate space, to reach head offi ce by 1700 hrs on Monday 24 November 2014.

If you can’t personally get the signatures of your supporters (they may sail on diff erent ships, for instance), fi ll in the top half of Form A yourself and send it to head offi ce. Ask your supporters to fi ll in Form B and send it in separately — both forms must reach head offi ce by 1700 on Monday 24 November 2014.

As well as appearing on these pages, the nomina-tion forms were sent to all eligible full members by the deadline of 19 September 2014.

A postal ballot will follow between January and April 2015 for full Nautilus members to choose between the nominees.

ANautilus International is een ledenorganisatie met een gekozen bestuursorgaan, de Council.

Het is van groot belang dat de Council bestaat uit mensen met een verschillende achtergrond, diverse meningen en deskundigheid. De structuur van de Coun-cil en de frequentie van de vergaderingen zijn zodanig opgezet dat er rekening kan worden gehouden met de werkverplichtingen van de leden. Als Council-lid wordt

van u gevraagd om vier keer per jaar een vergadering (op een goed te bereiken locatie) bij te wonen en u kunt als vrijwilliger deelnemen in gespecialiseerd beleids — en bestuurswerk op gebieden die u interesseren.

ADe Council bestaat uit actieve leden net als u, die elk voor een termijn van vier jaar zijn verkozen.

23 van de 32 zetels zijn voor leden van de Britse tak, acht zetels voor leden van de Nederlandse tak en 1 zetel voor leden van de Zwitserse tak.

De verkiezingen zijn gefaseerd. Dit betekent gewoonlijk dat elk jaar ongeveer de helft van de zetels in de Council verkiesbaar is.

In de tabel ziet u het aantal zetels en ook de vacatures die in 2015 verkiesbaar zijn. In de tabel ziet u ook de verdeling tussen NL, het VK en CH.

Reguliere leden (‘gewoon lid’ in statuten Nautilus International ), inclusief offi cieren in opleiding in categorieën met vacatures kunnen zich kandidaat stellen.

AControleer eerst of er een vacature in uw catego-rie is. Vul daarna de bovenste helft van Formulier

A in en stuur dit met de op de hiervoor bestemde plek ingevulde namen, adressen, lidmaatschapsnummers, handtekeningen en ondertekeningsdatums van vier

Stand for election to the Nautilus Council this year, and your ideas and infl uence could help to shape the future of the Union and the wider maritime industry…

How you can take a stand for Council...

NAUTILUS ELECTIONS


34-35_elections.indd 34 24/09/2014 16:06

NAUTILUS ELECTIONS


FÜR KANDIDATINNEN & KANDIDATENnominierungsformular ADieses Formular MUSS vom Kandidaten oder der Kandidatin ausgefülltwerden und kann darüber hinaus von einem oder mehreren unterstützendenMitglieder verwendet werden. EINGABESCHLUSS: Montag, 24. November 2014, 17.00 Uhr, an:

Nautilus International Head Office, 1&2 The Shrubberies, George Lane, South Woodford, London GB-E18 1BD, Grossbritannien.tel: +44 (0)20 8989 6677 fax: +44 (0)20 8530 1015

Bitte in BLOCKSCHRIFT ausfüllen

VOM KANDIDATEN bzw DER KANDIDATIN AUSZUFÜLLEN

Wahlkategorie

Name Mitgliedernummer

Adresse

Postleitzahl Tel

Funktion Unternehmen

Ich möchte für die Wahl des Rats 2015 kandidieren. Ich bestätige, dass ich beiNautilus International ein Vollmitglied in der oben genannten Kategorie bin,und die Bedingungen der Statuten und Reglementen erfülle.

Unterschrift Datum

VON DEN UNTERSTÜTZERN AUSZUFÜLLENIch unterstütze die Nominierung der oben genannten Person für die Wahl in den Rat in der angegebenen Wahlkategorie. Ich bestätige, dass ich einVollmitglied bin.

1. Name Mitgliedernummer

Adresse

Postleitzahl Tel.


Unterschrift Datum


Adresse

Postleitzahl Tel.


Unterschrift Datum


Adresse

Postleitzahl Tel.


Unterschrift Datum


Adresse

Postleitzahl Tel.


Unterschrift Datum

Nautilus — Ratswahlen 2015

FÜR UNTERSTÜTZERnominierungsforumular BDieses Formular kann von einem oder mehreren Unterstützer(n) ausgefülltwerden. Mehrere Formulare können verwendet werden. Der Kandidat/dieKandidatin MUSS zusätzlich das Formular A ausfüllen, unterschreiben undzurücksenden.EINGABESCHLUSS: 24. November 2014, 17.00 Uhr, an:

Nautilus International Head Office, 1&2 The Shrubberies, George Lane, South Woodford, London E18 1BD, Grossbritannien.tel: +44 (0)20 8989 6677 fax: +44 (0)20 8530 1015

Bitte in BLOCKSCHRIFT ausfüllen

VOM UNTERSTÜTZER AUSZUFÜLLENWahlkategorie

Name des Kandidaten/der Kandidatin, den/die ich unterstützen will

Adresse des Kandidaten/der Kandidatin

Postleitzahl Mitgliedernummer des Kandidaten/der Kandidatin

1. Ich unterstütze die Nominierung der oben genannten Person für die Wahl in denRat in der angegebenen Wahlkategorie. Ich bestätige, dass ich ein Vollmitglied bin.


Adresse

Postleitzahl Tel.


Unterschrift Datum



Adresse

Postleitzahl Tel.


Unterschrift Datum



Adresse

Postleitzahl Tel.


Unterschrift Datum



Adresse

Postleitzahl Tel.


Unterschrift Datum

Nautilus — Ratswahlen 2015

VOOR STEUNBETUIGERSnominatieformulier BDit formulier kan door één of meerdere steunbetuigers worden ingevuld. Erkunnen meerdere formulieren worden gebruikt. Daarbij MOET de kandidaat eenFormulier A invullen, ondertekenen en retourneren. Retourneer het ingevuldeformulier UITERLIJK op maandag 24 november 2014 om 17.00 uur t.a.v.:

Nautilus International Head Office, 1&2 The Shrubberies, George Lane South Woodford, London E18 1BD, VK.tel: +44 (0)20 8989 6677 fax: +44 (0)20 8530 1015

Invullen in BLOKLETTERS

IN TE VULLEN DOOR DE STEUNBETUIGERSKiescategorie

Naam van de kandidaat die ik ondersteun

Adres van kandidaat

Postcode Lidm.nr. kandidaat

1. Ik ondersteun de nominatie van de bovenvermelde persoon voor de Council-verkiezingen in de vermelde kiescategorie. Ik bevestig dat ik een regulier lid(‘gewoon lid’ in statuten Nautilus International ) lid ben.

Naam Lidm.nr.

Adres

Postcode Tel.nr.

Rang Bedrijf

Handtekening Datum


Naam Lidm.nr.

Adres

Postcode Tel.nr.

Rang Bedrijf

Handtekening Datum


Naam Lidm.nr.

Adres

Postcode Tel.nr.

Rang Bedrijf

Handtekening Datum


Naam Lidm.nr.

Adres

Postcode Tel.nr.

Rang Bedrijf

Handtekening Datum

Councilverkiezingen Nautilus 2015

Total UK Seats NL Seats CH Seats2015

Total No. 2015 Total No. 2015 Total No. 2015Elections of seats Vacancies of seats Vacancies of seats Vacancies

Category

1. Navigators, inc. Shipmasters

2. Engineers inc. ETOs/Elec/RO

3. Ratings

4. Inland Navigation

5. Other Particular Categories inc. Hotel Services & Shore-based members

TOTALS

13

11

2

2

4

32

10 6

9 5

1 1

0 0

3 1

23 13

3 2

2 1

1 1

1 1

1 0

8 5

0 0

0 0

0 0

1 1

0 0

1 1

including1 by-election for2 year period

including 1 Maritime offi cer

andere reguliere leden in uw branche naar het hoofdkantoor, waar het uiterlijk op maandag 24 november 2014 om 17.00 uur ontvangen moet zijn.

Vul als u de handtekeningen van uw steunbetui-gers niet persoonlijk bijeen kunt krijgen (omdat zij bijvoorbeeld op verschillende schepen werkzaam zijn) de bovenste helft van Formulier A zelf in en stuur het naar het hoofdkantoor.

Vraag uw steunbetuigers Formulier B in te vullen en het apart te verzenden — beide formulieren moeten op maandag 24 november 2014 om 17.00 uur op het hoofdkantoor ontvangen zijn.

De nominatieformulieren die u hier op deze pagina’s vindt zijn tevens per gewone post aan alle reguliere leden verzonden vóór de deadline van 19 september 2014.

ANautilus International ist eine mitgliederorienti-erte Gewerkschaft mit einer gewählten Führung,

dem Rat. Es ist entscheidend, dass der Rat sich aus Personen

zusammensetzt, die eine grosse Bandbreite von Hintergründen, Meinungen und Kompetenz repräsen-tieren. Dadurch soll sichergestellt werden, dass die Ratssitzungen im Hinblick auf die Belange der

Mitglieder ausgerichtet sind. Als ein Ratsmitglied wird von dir erwartet, viermal

pro Jahr zu den Ratssitzungen zu kommen. Darüber hinaus kannst du freiwillig in bestimmten Bereichen deines Interesses die Gewerkschaftspolitik und -führung mitgestalten.

ADer Rat besteht aus Berufstätigen der See- und Binnenschiff fahrt und jedes Mitglied wird

normalerweise für eine Amtsperiode von 4 Jahren gewählt. 23 der 32 Sitze sind Mitgliedern der britischen Sektion zugeteilt, acht Sitze werden von Mitgliedern der niederländischen Sektion besetzt und 1 Sitz ist für ein Mitglied der Schweizer Sektion.

Wahlen fi nden kontinuierlich statt, was normalerweise bedeutet, dass jedes Jahr etwa die Hälfte der Sitze im Rat zur Wahl stehen.

Die Tabelle gibt einen Überblick über die Anzahl der Sitze sowie über die freien Sitze, die 2015 zur Wahl stehen. Die Tabelle zeigt auch die Aufteilung zwischen den Niederlanden, Grossbritannien und der Schweiz.

Vollmitglieder (einschliesslich Offi ziere in Ausbildung) der Kategorien, in denen es freie Sitze gibt (siehe Kästchen oben), sind berechtigt, sich zur Wahl aufstellen zu lassen.

AÜberprüfe zuerst, dass es in deiner Kategorie einen freien Sitz gibt. Fülle dann den oberen

Teil des Formular A aus und lass vier weitere Vollmit-glieder deiner Sektion ihren Namen, ihre Adresse, Mitgliedsnummer, Unterschrift und das Datum in den vorgesehenen Spalten eintragen und schicke dann alles bis spätestens 24. November 2014, 17.00 Uhr, an den Hauptsitz.

Wenn du die Unterschriften deiner Unterstützer nicht persönlich einholen kannst (weil sie zum Beispiel auf einem anderen Schiff arbeiten), dann fülle den oberen Teil des Formular A aus und schicke es an den Hauptsitz.

Bitte deine Unterstützer dann Formular B auszufül-len und uns dieses separat zu schicken — beide Formu-lare müssen bis spätestens 24. November 2014, 17.00 Uhr, an den Hauptsitz geschickt werden.

Zusätzlich zu der Veröff entlichung an dieser Stelle sind werden allen berechtigten Vollmitgliedern die Nominierungsformulare für die Wahlen des Rats der Gewerkschaft rechtzeitig bis zum 19. September 2014 zugeschickt worden.

Zwischen Januar und April 2015 werden dann allen Nautilus Mitgliedern per Post die Wahllisten zugesendet, auf denen dann die Nominierten auswählt werden können.

34-35_elections.indd 35 24/09/2014 16:06

NL NEWS


AMet ingang van 1 januari 2015 zouden ook binnenvaartschepen die op de internationale Rijn varen,

moeten voldoen aan de geluidseisen zoals afgesproken in de Centrale Commissie voor de Rijnvaart (CCR) en vastgelegd in het Reglement voor onderzoek van schepen op de Rijn (ROSR). Dit betreft de binnenvaart-schepen waarvan de kiel is gelegd op 1 april 1976 of daarvoor. Schepen die gebouwd zijn na 1975 voldoen al aan deze eisen.

In 2003 is de overgangstermijn voor binnenvaartschepen, gebouwd voor 1976, gesteld op 1 januari 2015. Deze termijn is recent verlengd tot 1 januari 2020. Brancheorganisaties in de binnenvaart hebben aangegeven dat de geluidseisen voor diverse categorieën van oudere binnenvaart-schepen tot technische en/of fi nanciële knelpunten leiden en hebben dit onder de aandacht van het Ministerie van Infrastruc-tuur en Milieu (I&M) gebracht.

OnderzoekIn 2013-2014 hebben TNO en adviesbureau Level Acoustics in opdracht van het

Ministerie van I&M vooronderzoek verricht naar de geluidseisen. De resultaten uit dit vooronderzoek bevestigen bovenstaand beeld en waren voor het Ministerie aanleiding een vervolgonderzoek te laten uitvoeren om met mogelijke maatregelen en oplossingen te komen. Dit vervolgonderzoek wordt uitgevoerd door de combinatie Level Acoustics, DPA Cauberg-Huygen en Rubber Design.

KlankbordgroepBij dit vervolgonderzoek is deelname gevraagd van een klankbordgroep bestaande uit vertegenwoordigers van werkgevers, werknemers, ministeries en onderzoekers, specialisten en leveranciers op het gebied van geluid en trillingen. Ook Nautilus International is vertegenwoordigd in deze klankbordgroep. Op 2 september 2014 is deze klankbordgroep voor een eerste overleg bijeengekomen. De voorzitter gaf tijdens zijn inleiding nogmaals aan dat het de bedoeling is om de vijf jaar uitstel te benutten om oplossingen zoveel mogelijk defi nitief te maken. Hierna hebben de vertegenwoor-

digers van de combinatie hun voorstel met planning voor de uitvoering van het vervolg-onderzoek toegelicht.

Metingen De opzet is om tussen nu en eind februari 2015 metingen te verrichten aan boord van zes verschillende soorten binnenvaart-schepen binnen de doelgroep. De vertegen-woordigers van werkgevers gaan hun achterban benaderen voor geschikte schepen. Daarnaast zal een korte enquête gehouden worden over ervaringen van bemanningen met geluid in de praktijk. Deze enquête kan zowel via de vertegenwoordigers van de werkgevers als werknemers aan haar leden in de binnenvaart en waterbouw aangeboden worden.

De resultaten uit de enquête en de moge-lijke maatregelen worden naar verwachting in de derde week van januari 2015 met de klankbordgroep besproken, waarna vervolg-stappen genomen kunnen worden. We houden u op de hoogte over de voortgang van dit vervolgonderzoek.

Ministerie I&M doet vervolg-onderzoek naar geluidseisen oudere binnenvaartschepen

FHoewel de leden in dienst van Fairstar Heavy Transport de resultatenlijst net iets te mager

vonden, blijft de werkgever bij het standpunt dat het pakket dat ter tafel ligt, voldoende is. Dit is dan ook het eindbod van de rederij en het laatste woord is nu aan de leden.

In de Telegraph van juli kon u lezen dat de onder-handelingspartijen tot een principeakkoord waren gekomen voor een tweejarige CAO, lopend van 1 januari 2014 tot en met 31 december 2015. Tijdens de ledenvergadering op 8 juli jl. gaven de leden aan de 0% loonsverhoging voor 2014 en de 2% loons-verhoging voor 2015 echter onvoldoende te vinden. Ze wilden akkoord gaan met het bereikte resultaat onder voorwaarde dat er voor 2014 nog iets zou bijkomen. Zij kamen hiertoe met een aantal opties, waaronder: een extra gageverhoging van 0,5% per 1 januari 2014 plus de 2% per 1 januari 2015; de gageverhoging 1 jaar naar voren trekken, (1% per 1 januari 2014 en 1% per 1 januari 2015) en de

gageverhoging een half jaar naar voren halen waar-bij de lonen met 1% per 1 juli 2014 worden verhoogd en 1% per 1 januari 2015.

Nul op rekestNautilus ging met de opties terug naar de werkgever, maar helaas gaf deze nul op rekest. Volgens de werkgever zit er nu niet meer in het vat, aangezien de werknemers naast de loonsverhoging per 1 januari 2015 per 1 januari 2015 een bijdrage in de ziektekos-ten ontvangen van €20,- bruto per maand. Verder wordt dit jaar de bonus van één extra maandsalaris uitgekeerd die in de vorige CAO was toegezegd.

Het laatste woord is nu aan de leden; zij had-den tot 14 september de kans te reageren op het eindbod. Net voordat de Telegraph gedrukt zou gaan worden, bereikte ons het bericht dat de leden in meerderheid het eindbod van de werkgever hebben geaccepteerd waarmee de nieuwe CAO 2014 - 2015 een feit is.

Fairstar komt met eindbod voor twee-jarige CAO F

In februari dit jaar spraken de Nautilus leden zich volmondig uit tegen de afschaffi ng van

het pauze artikel uit het Arbeidstijden besluit zee-scheepvaart (Telegraph april 2014). Tegelijkertijd konden de leden zich unaniem vinden in een optie waarbij zonder het pauze artikel te schrappen er door de overheid toestemming wordt gegeven om in de vorm van een pilot tijdelijk af te wijken van het betreff ende besluit. Al naar gelang de uitkomst van de pilot zou dan eventueel kunnen worden nagedacht over het oprekken van de bepalingen uit het pauze artikel.

De afweging van de leden om te komen tot een pilot werd vooral ingegeven door de uitkomst van de berekeningen die waren doorgevoerd met de rekentool Martha uit het in dit blad veelvul-dig beschreven Project Horizon. Het oprekken van de bepalingen uit het pauze besluit maken andere wachtpatronen mogelijk (bv 5op-7af, 7op-5af) die blijkens de in Martha doorgevoerde berekeningen positief kunnen uitwerken op het vermoeidheidsniveau van de wachtbemanning en daarmee het algemene veiligheidsniveau aan boord positief zou kunnen beïnvloeden. Hierop volgend heeft Nautilus plaatsgenomen in een werkgroep bestaande uit vertegenwoordigers van de ministeries van I&M en SoZaWe, de inspectie IL&T en en de redersvereniging KVNR om een pilot op te zetten, deze te volgen en de uitkomsten ervan te analyseren.

Pilot Alhoewel bij het ter perse gaan van dit blad nog niet tot in de details bekend was hoe de pilot eruit zou gaan zien was de werkgroep er op hoofdlijnen inmiddels wel uit. Op een nog nader te bepalen aantal schepen zullen de bemanningen over een langere periode afwisselend gaan varen in diverse wachtsystemen en gedurende die tijd worden gemonitord middels bewegings-en reactiemeters, enquêtes en bijgehouden dagboeken. Tevens zullen de arbeids-en rusttijden van de bemanningsleden worden doorgerekend op Martha ter vergelijking met de in de praktijk opgedane ervaringen. De pilot zal gedurende de gehele looptijd professioneel begeleid gaan worden door een onderzoeks-instituut en middels de Telegraph zullen wij u op de hoogte blijven houden van de ontwikkelingen.

Pauze Artikel

CIn de vorige uitgave van de Telegraph kon u lezen

dat Nautilus International en Tarbit Tankers Services B.V. een principeakkoord hebben bereikt voor een tweejarige CAO. Tijdens de ledenvergadering van 12 juni jl. gaven de leden echter aan de loonsverhoging van 2% per 1 januari 2014 en 1% per januari 2015 te mager te vinden.

In de ledenvergadering werd het mandaat afgegeven om alsnog tot een eenjarige CAO (2014) te komen met een loonstijging van 2% óf tot een tweejarige CAO met 2 maal 2%. In het mandaat kon de onderhandelingsdelegatie de looneis eventueel ook nog bijstellen naar 2% in het eerste jaar en 1,5% loonsverhoging in het tweede jaar. Met deze boodschap is Nautilus teruggegaan naar de werkgever met het verzoek hier zo spoedig mogelijk op te reageren.

Geen ruimteOp 22 augustus kwam de

werkgever dan eindelijk terug met een reactie: vanwege de tegenvallende markt en de hoge kosten die Tarbit Tankers moet maken in verband met de nieuwe milieueisen, kan de werkgever de gewenste loonsverhoging niet honoreren.

EnquêteNu de werkgever niet bereid bleek om het afgegeven mandaat van de leden in te vullen heeft Nautilus vervolgens een enquêteformulier uitgestuurd met de vraag of de leden akkoord gaan met het behaalde resultaat of wellicht bereid zijn tot acties. Zij hadden tot 22 september de tijd om te reageren. Uit de ontvangen enquêteformulieren blijkt dat de leden alsnog unaniem instemmen met bereikte principe akkoord.Hiermee is de nieuwe CAO een feit en zijn eventuele acties van de baan. De tekst van de CAO zal worden aangepast conform het principe akkoord.

Toch een nieuwe CAO voor Tarbit Tankers?

Volg ons op Twitter

De poll van deze maand is: Zou u een loopbaan op zee aan een jong persoon aanbevelen? Geef ons uw mening online, op www.nautilusnl.org

Geef uw meningVorige maand vroegen wij: Denkt u dat de kwaliteit van nieuw gebouwde schepen in de afgelopen jaren is gedaald?

Ja76%

Nee24%

36-37_nl_23.9.indd 36 24/09/2014 16:07

Wij hebben Facebook.

Volg ons ook!

Bezoek www.nautilusint.org

NL NEWS


ADoor de aanpassingen vanuit het Maritieme Arbeidsverdrag is vanaf

20 augustus 2013 de wet Zee-varenden ingevoerd, voorheen bekend als de Zeevaartbeman-ningswet. Door de implementa-tie van de gemaakte afspraken tijdens het STCW Manilla verdrag zijn er nu inhoudelijke wijzigingen en moest de wet Zeevarenden hierop worden aangepast.

Deze aangepaste wet is per 3 mei 2014 van kracht geworden. Een aantal bepalingen levert in de praktijk echter knelpunten op. Daarom hebben ILT, het Directo-raat-Generaal Bereikbaarheid (DGB), KVNR, Vereniging van Waterbouwers en Nautilus International samen besloten meer tijd uit te trekken voor het aanpassen van de bepalingen en een overgangsperiode te hanteren tot 1 januari 2017.

OvergangsperiodeVanwege de problemen in de praktijk zal de oude uitvoerings-norm gedurende een beperkte periode (tot uiterlijk 1-1-2017) nog worden uitgevoerd. Binnen deze overgangsperiode kan een verlopen vaarbevoegheidsbewijs nog worden vernieuwd. Vanaf 28 juli 2014 kunnen zeevarenden met een verlopen vaarbevoegd-heidsbewijs een aanvraag indie-nen voor een nieuw vaarbevoegd-heidsbewijs onder de condities die voor de gewijzigde wet Zeevarenden per 3 mei 2014 van kracht waren.

Aanvraagprocedure KiwaAan welke procedure en voor-waarden moet worden voldaan voor het aanvragen van een nieuw vaarbevoegdheidsbewijs? Allereerst moet het aan te vragen vaarbevoegdheidsbewijs gelijk

zijn aan het verlopen vaarbe-voegdheidsbewijs. Ophogen of aanvullen is niet mogelijk. Artikel 8 vanuit de wetgeving van voor 3 mei 2014 en de daarbij behorende uitvoeringsnormen worden ge-hanteerd. Deze uitvoeringsnorm omvat ook de alternatieve func-ties waarmee aan de ervarings-eisen wordt voldaan. Verder wordt uitgegaan van een erva-ringsnorm van 12 maanden in de afgelopen vijf jaar. Let op: de met de Manilla wijziging ingevoerde ervaringsnorm van drie maan-den diensttijd in de laatste zes maanden wordt niet gehanteerd!

Tijdig vernieuwenAls de aanvrager voldoet aan bovenstaande voorwaarden, ontvangt deze een geldig vaar-bevoegdheidsbewijs met een looptijd tot 1 januari 2017. Vervolgens is het zaak om rekening te houden met

bovenstaande bepalingen en tijdig voor 1-1-2017 het vaarbe-voegdheidsbewijs te vernieuwen en een vaarbevoegdheidsbewijs onder de nieuwe voorwaarden van de wet Zeevarenden te verkrijgen.

Meer informatieAanvragers die op bovenstaande tussen 3 mei 2014 en 28 juli 2014 een negatieve beschikking hebben ontvangen, wordt gevraagd contact op te nemen met Kiwa Register BV via [email protected]. Lopende aanvragen worden behandeld volgens bovenstaande proce-dure. Kosten en administratieve lasten die voortvloeien uit het bovenstaande zijn voor rekening van de aanvrager.

gDe volledige tekst over de uitvoering van de Wet Zeeva-renden en de Gids uitvoering wet

Zeevarenden is te vinden op de website van ILT via de link: www.ilent.nl/onderwerpen/transport/koopvaardij/bemanning/wet_en_regelgeving/uitvoering_wet_zeevarenden/

Meer tijd voor aanpassing wet Zeevarenden:

‘Oude’ condities tijdelijk van kracht bij aanvragen vaarbevoegdheidsbewijs

CTijdens de ledenvergadering op 1 en 2 september jl.

heeft Nautilus in samenspraak met de leden de voorstellen geformuleerd voor de komende CAO-onderhandelingen. De ledenvergaderingen vonden plaats op de Hollandica, het grootste passagiersschip van de rederij. Tientallen leden, van alle drie de departementen, waren hierbij aanwezig. Inmiddels is de voorstellenbrief naar de werkgever verstuurd waarmee de eerste stappen in het CAO-traject zijn gezet.

Voorgesteld wordt om de lonen in 2014 te verhogen met 3%, conform het loon- en arbeidsvoorwaardenbeleid van de FNV. Het idee hierachter is om de koopkracht van werknemers in stand te houden en daar waarmogelijk op onderdelen te verbeteren. Daarom zet Nautilus dit jaar tevens in op een structurele zorgverzekeringsbijdrage van €30,- bruto per maand. Dit is vergelijkbaar met hetgeen de vakbond vorig jaar heeft afgesproken met P&O NSF.

Aanpassing beloning 3e WTKAnder punt dat tijdens de ledenvergadering aan bod

kwam, was de beloning van de 3e werktuigkundige (WTK). Momenteel zitten de 4e WTK en 3e stuurman bij Stena Line BV in dezelfde loongroep. Dat geldt echter niet voor de 3e WTK en de 2e stuurman, ondanks het feit dat beiden dezelfde opleiding hebben genoten, beiden zelfstanding wacht lopen én hierdoor beiden een grote verantwoordelijkheid hebben. Op verzoek van de aanwezigen leden stelt Nautilus daarom voor om de beloning van de 3e WTK op te trekken naar het niveau van 2e stuurman.

Kaderleden maken het verschil Op 21 oktober, 3 en 17 november zullen de onderhandelingen plaatsvinden. Bij de CAO-onderhandelingen zou de vakbond graag bijgestaan willen worden door kaderleden van alle drie de disciplines (OBS, MK en DEK). Het streven is om per discipline twee kaderleden mee te nemen die als spreekbuis fungeren namens de betreff ende werknemers van OBS, MK of DEK. De vakbond is nog op zoek naar extra OBS-kaderleden. Werknemers van On Board Services die hierin interesse hebben, worden verzocht contact op te nemen met Nautilus.

Nieuwe CAO-ronde bij Stena Line van start

COp 22 augustus jl. was er een feestje op de Marghera werf

van Fincantieri in Italië. Op deze dag vond de kiellegging plaats van het nieuwe cruiseschip van de Holland America Line (HAL). Het schip zal een bruto tonnage van 99.500 krijgen en zal ruimte gaan bieden aan 2.650 passagiers. Zij wordt hiermee — met recht — het grootste schip van de rederij. De bouw van het vlaggenschip zal naar verwachting 18 maanden in beslag gaan nemen.

Holland America Line heeft de nieuwe naam van het, in februari 2016 op te leveren, cruiseschip onthuld: ms Koningsdam. De vloot van Holland America Line telt momenteel 15 state-of-the-art cruiseschepen. Vanaf 2016 zal de Koningsdam deze vloot cruiseschepen — rondvarend onder Nederlandse vlag! — versterken. Dit is iets waar we als Nederland best trots op mogen zijn.

Wij wensen de bouwers de komende maanden veel succes toe.

FNa een lang scheepvaart-verleden, waarbij ons lid de

laatste jaren werkzaam was geweest op de binnenvaart, ontving dit lid enige maanden een WW-uitkering. Tijdens deze periode kwam hij op een dag erg ongelukkig ten val. Zodanig, dat dit een hernia en beknelling van de zenuw in zijn arm tot gevolg had. Maanden van revalidatie volgden. Ons lid ontving tijdens deze periode een Ziektewetuitkering en werd regelmatig tussentijds gekeurd door de UWV artsen. De meeste klachten namen gelukkig na verloop van tijd iets af, maar als gevolg van de val trad er krachtverlies op in zijn linkerhand. Indien een werknemer ziek geworden is vóór 1 januari 2013 moet voor de beoordeling of iemand ziek is in de zin van de Ziektewet worden gekeken naar de laatst verrichte eigen arbeid. In dit geval: zijn werk als schipper op de binnenvaart. Tijdens een van de laatste keuringen stelde de UWV arts dat ons lid weer beter kon worden

gemeld. Ons lid ontving een brief dat zijn Ziektewetuitkering per die datum zou worden stop gezet. De UWV arts was van mening dat ons lid met krachtverlies in zijn linkerhand gewoon als schipper kon werken: dan moest hij zich maar met zijn gezonde rechterhand vasthouden aan boord! Ons lid heeft hier samen met Nautilus bezwaar tegen gemaakt bij het UWV en aangegeven dat het voor de veiligheid aan boord noodzakelijk is dat een schipper beide handen kan gebruiken, maar het UWV wees het bezwaar af. Reden waarom Nautilus namens ons lid beroep heeft aangetekend bij de Rechtbank. Ondertussen had ons lid zich ook laten keuren door een keuringsarts voor de binnenvaart. Deze arts verricht de keuring aan de hand van de keuringseisen binnenvaart, waarbij de arts er met name op let of de beperkingen van de werknemer niet de veilige uitoefening van zijn werkzaamheden aan boord

belemmeren. De keuringsarts was van mening dat ons lid met zijn beperking een gevaar vormde voor zichzelf en zijn omgeving en keurde ons lid af als zijnde blijvend ongeschikt voor de binnenvaart. Tijdens de zitting bij de rechter werden er ook praktijkvoorbeelden gegeven, waaruit de onveiligheid aan boord bleek: je bijvoorbeeld plotseling moeten vasthouden aan de reling in het geval van een glad gangboord. De rechter vond het verhaal van ons lid overtuigend en wilde daarom opheldering van de UWV arts over zijn opmerking dat ons lid het aan boord wel alleen af kon met zijn gezonde hand. De UWV arts heeft daar geen nadere onderbouwing voor gegeven, zodat de rechter het beroep van ons lid heeft toegewezen. Het UWV heeft inmiddels aangegeven niet in hoger beroep te zullen gaan, zodat ons lid met terugwerkende kracht alsnog een Ziektewetuitkering zal ontvangen.

Uit de dienstgangAlle hens (handen) aan dek! WILT U EEN

ADVERTENTIE PLAATSEN IN

DE TELEGRAPH NEEMT U DAN

CONTACT OP MET:

Jude Rosset at Redactive Media

Sales T: +44 (0)20 7880 6217F: +44 (0)20 7880 7691

E: [email protected]

Holland America Line laat nieuw passagiersschip bouwen

36-37_nl_23.9.indd 37 24/09/2014 16:40

APPOINTMENTS


OFFSHOREAdvanced Fire Fighting – 20 Oct, 3 Nov, 1 Dec | Basic Training for Seafarers – 29 Sep, 27 Oct, 10 Nov, 17 Nov, 24 Nov | Deck Ratings (Apprenticeship) – 10 Nov | Efficient Deck Hand – 29 Sep, 27 Oct, 10 Nov, 17 Nov, 24 Nov | Medicare – 5 Jan | Medical First Aid – 14 Oct, 28 Oct, 25 Nov | NEBOSH General – 06 Oct

NEBOSH Oil/Gas – 3 Nov | PSC&RB – 29 Sep, 27 Oct, 10 Nov, 17 Nov, 24 Nov

For more information E [email protected] T 01253 779 123 W blackpool.ac.uk/offshore

Facebook/FleetwoodNauticalCampusOffshoreOperations

MARITIME

Ship Bridge Simulator Courses NAEST Operational – W/C 5 Jan | NAEST Management – W/C 24 Nov, 01 Dec, 08 Dec | ECDIS – W/C 24 Nov | HELM Management – W/C 13 Oct, 24 Nov, 01 Dec, 08 Dec

EDH (Efficient Deck Hand) dates available on request | Bridge Team Management - W/C 10 Nov VTS Refresher W/C 17 Nov

For more information E [email protected] T 01253 779 123 W blackpool.ac.uk/nautical

If you are interested in working at Fleetwood Nautical Campus, call 01253 50(4760) to register your interest or for information on current vacancies.

Fleetwood - a top UK Nautical College with a long established reputation for being a leading provider of

training to the Maritime industry.

WWW. BLACKPOOL. AC.UK

38-45_rec.indd 38 23/09/2014 12:00

APPOINTMENTS


16 October 2014 is the closing date for November 2014.

You can still advertise online at any time.

NOTICE TO READERSNautilus International advises members that

some crewing agencies may not be advertising specific positions, but instead may be seeking

to develop their databases of job hunters.

If you have moved recently, your home copy may still be trying to catch up with you — particularly if you gave us a temporary address such as a hall of residence.

To let us know your new address, go to www.nautilusint.org and log in as a member, or contact our membership department on +44 (0)151 639 8454 or [email protected].

Where’s my Telegraph?

Shore-based: +44 (0)23 8020 [email protected]

Seagoing: +44 (0)23 8020 [email protected]

Search for ‘Faststream Seafarers’

@faststreamsea

www.faststream.com

SHORE BASED

Offshore Marine SuperintendentAberdeen - £60K + Package

Offshore Technical SuperintendentAberdeen - £65K + Package

Fleet ManagerAberdeen Market Leading Package + Benefits

Technical SuperintendentGlasgow - £55K + Package

Technical SuperintendentLondon - £60K

Safety Manager (Yachts)France - Competitive Salary + Benefits

Fleet Training Manager UK South - £60K + Benefits

Crewing Manager Cyprus - Competitive Salary + Benefits

Marine Superintendent Cyprus - €60K

LNG Technical SuperintendentLondon - £60-70K + Benefits

YACHTS

Chief EngineerMotor Yacht 60m - €8K/mth

2nd Engineer Sailing Yacht - €5K/mth

2nd Engineer Motor Yacht 70+m - €6.5K/mth

Deckhand Motor Yacht 80+m - €2.8K/mth

WORKBOATS

Chief Engineer Unlimited Workboat - £250/day

2nd Engineer Unlimited Workboat - £40K

Chief Engineer Tug - £50K

Master Tug - €220/day

Master Workboat - £190/day

CRUISE Program Director Cruise - €3.5K/mth

Entertainment Manager Cruise - €4K/mth

Hotel Manager Cruise - €3.4K/mth

FERRY/PASSENGEROOW - Ferry - £180/day

Chief Engineer - Ferry - £54K

OFFSHOREChief Engineer - PSV - £55K

Chief Officer DPO - AHTS - £43K

Chief Engineer - ERRV - £36.5K

2nd Officer DPO - PSV - £34K

Electrician - PSV - £40K

Crane Operator - DSV - £350/day

Chief Officer (non-DP) - PSV - £43K

2nd Officer - AHTS - £34K

2nd Engineer - PSV - £44K

Master - ERRV - £46K

Pritchard-Gordon Tankers (Guernsey) Ltd

Pritchard-Gordon Tankers Ltd, a family owned and managed company, operating British and Isle of Man registered oil tankers of between 5,000

and 12,000 dwt, are seeking experienced and suitably quali ed, high calibre:

Senior Deck and Engineering Of cersWe lay great importance on teamwork and continuity, with a

number of senior of cers having been with the company over 20 years. Our company ethos is to offer a superior service and level of

professionalism to our Major and National Oil Company customers in challenging operational conditions.

Voyage lengths are of 10 to 13 weeks duration followed by an equal period of leave. Terms and conditions are competitive and

commensurate with rank and experience. Applications in the rst instance to -

Head of Personnel,Pritchard-Gordon Tankers Ltd, 6 Coronation Street,

South Shields, Tyne & Wear, NE33 1AZTel 0191 427 0303 Email [email protected]

Website www.pgtankers.com

Are you a highly motivated person? Are you looking for a career with promotional possibilities?

Can you work as part of a team? Are you experienced in offshore activities?

Are you computer literate? Would you like to enjoy a one for one work/leave ratio?

Do you hold a UK Certi cate or Competence or Equivalent?Sentinel Marine PTE Limited are recruiting seafarers who can answer yes to the above questions and who would like to be part of the increasing eet operated by Sentinel Marine Ltd.

With 8 new build Multi Role Offshore Support vessels and new build Platform Support Vessels delivering into the eet in the coming months, interested applicants are requested to send their CV to the Human Resource department by either emailing hr@sentinel marine.com or applying online via our website http://sentinel marine.com/

38-45_rec.indd 39 23/09/2014 12:00


APPOINTMENTS

Engineering and Nautical InstructorsCSMART, Almere, the NetherlandsCSMART’s phenomenal growth and recognised success over the past 5 years has prompted CarnivalCorporation to commit to a € 40 million investment in a new, custom designed world-class MaritimeTraining Academy, based in Almere, the Netherlands, using the very latest, state-of-the-art trainingtechnology and methodology. The number of training courses, participants and simulators (full mission andpart task) will more than double over the next few years. In order to fuel this growth, CSMART is looking torecruit multiple, top quality professionals, who want to be trained to become the best Engineering orNautical Instructors in the world, who are willing to take on the challenge to develop this into the world’spremier Maritime Training Academy and who want to be part of this groundbreaking initiative.

As an Instructor, you will become a role model for Carnival’s Engineering or Nautical Staff on board ourships. Your role will not just be to instruct and teach ship-board personnel, but you will also be involved indeveloping best practices that can be implemented on board the ships. An important element of the rolewill also be to visit our cruise ships from time-to-time, thereby ensuring that the teachings from theclassroom and simulators are actually implemented onboard.

For successful candidates to become an Engineering Instructor they will typically be, or have been, in the nottoo distant past, either been a Chief Engineer, Senior Electrical Technical Officer, Staff Chief Engineer,Senior First Engineer or First Engineer whilst those wishing to become Nautical Instructor will be or havebeen (Staff) Captain, Chief Officer or Safety Officer. They may currently work ship-side or consideringreturning to a ship in the near future. We expect all candidates to have at least 10+ years of sea time inorder to have the credibility to teach others. Cruise ship experience is definitely preferred although thosecandidates who have instructed in simulators are also encouraged to apply. Successful candidates areexpected to have a passion to teach others, are recognised team players and possess the right peopleskills. The working language at CSMART is English.

A more extensive description of the role and more detailed information about CSMART can be found onwww.csmartalmere.com. CSMART are prepared to offer competitive remuneration packages which, fornon-Dutch nationals, could also include very favourable tax treatment and international school facilities.

To apply, please email your CV and accompanying letter to: [email protected]

38-45_rec.indd 40 23/09/2014 12:00

APPOINTMENTS


Visit vikingrecruitment.com

Embark and expand your career in 2014 with Holland America Line and Seabourn Cruises

We are currently recruiting for the following positions:

Benefits package includes:

Step aboard...

Candidates need to complete our online database via our website or email us at [email protected] quoting reference VRL10/14

Viking Recruitment Limited

Viking House, Beechwood Business Park, Menzies Road, Dover, Kent, CT16 2FG

T +44 (0) 300 303 8191 (option 2)

38-45_rec.indd 41 23/09/2014 12:00


APPOINTMENTS

YOURSUPPORTWILL TACKLE CHALLENGES.

VTS MOVEMENTS MANAGER Starting salary £30,008 p.a + Ref: 1416615

Market Skills Supplement of £4,500Maximum salary for grade £35,285 p.aPlymouth

You will be required to manage and oversee the provision of VTS within the diverse port of Plymouth. You will be responsible for the ports VTS associated activities, policy, personnel, training, rostering, recruitment and equipment as well as line management and reporting offi cer responsibilities for a number of personnel.

Responsible for overseeing the compilation of medium to long term vessel movements program and the production of short term forecasts, you will be required to liaise with appropriate MOD authorities, Commanders/Captains and appropriate prime service providers for movements within the Dockyard Port.

Essential qualifi cations: VTS 103/1 - VTS Operator and VTS 103/2 - VTS Supervisor.

The successful candidate should also have managerial experience within the maritime industry together with a full UK driver’s licence.

An STCW II/1 or equivalent certifi cate would be desirable.

This post requires on call working and some fl exibility in terms of standard working days.

For further information please contact Alan Clements, the recruiting line manager on: 01752 836932 Email: [email protected]

Or visit https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cgi

Closing date: 17 October 2014.The MOD is an Equal Opportunities employer and seeks to refl ect thediverse community it serves. Applications are welcome from anyonewho meets the stated requirements.

A Force for Good.www.civilianjobs.mod.uk

Your First Port of Call

Address: First Floor Unit 7, Hythe Marine Park, Shore Road,

Southampton, SO45 6HE UK Telephone: +44(0)23 8084 0374

Email: [email protected]

www.seamariner.com ISO9001:2008 accredited

and KvK and MLC compliant Reg Co number: 2745210

Leading Marine Recruitment Specialists We are seeking all ranks of seafarers, offshore and shore based personnel and in particular:

Deck and Engineering Of cers - All vessels Engineering Of cers and ETO’s - MOD Support vessels All Of cers and Crew - ERRV All DPO’s/SDPO’s (Unlimited DP Cert.) Various offshore personnel - Drill ships, Jack-ups and Rigs

If you would like further information in registering with Seamariner or you would like to discuss your crewing requirements, please contact one of our experienced consultants

Excellent opportunities exist within our RORO /

MASTERSCHIEF OFFICERSCHIEF ENGINEERS

OOW DECKOOW ENGINE ALL RATINGS To view details of all current vacancies and for further information, please visit our website www.nmms.co.uk

Or send full CV [email protected] welcome speculative CV’s

to above email address.

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APPOINTMENTS


Who are we?CEMEX UK Marine is a leading supplier of marine aggregates to the British and European construction industry and is part of CEMEX a global building materials solutions provider.

Dedicated to building a better future, we believe in balancing financial achievement with a firm commitment to sustainable development. We believe in realising individual potential and encouraging personal progression. If you are looking for an opportunity to develop your skills and move forward within a leading organisation in its field, then please contact [email protected]. We currently operate a fleet of five UK flagged vessels ranging from 1251gt/1080kW to 6534gt/4920kW delivering to customers in the UK and near continent.

CEMEX Marine (Guernsey) are currently seeking for employment on CEMEX UK Marine Ltd vessels enthusiastic individuals who are committed to working safely to join our fleet in the following ranks:

Masters Competitive salary and benefits package including Pilotage payments where applicable

• A key leadership position, you will have already sailed in command and be a competent ship handler. CEMEX are seeking candidates able to demonstrate exemplary management and leadership skills to act as a critical link between the Company Management ashore and seagoing operational staff.

• You will be expected to function in a hands on role in addition to safely implementing company systems and procedures whilst motivating and engaging those under your command.

Chief Engineers (Unlimited)

• A pivotal role, we are looking for people with a ‘can do’ and ‘hands on’ approach to the job with effective leadership skills, candidates should hold Chief Engineer unlimited UK CoC/CeC. Whether you’ve sailed in rank or are looking for your first Chief’s position, we would like to hear from you.

Chief Engineers (Domestic Trade)

• Candidates should hold minimum Chief Engineer 1500 kW domestic trade UK CoC/CeC.

• This is a specific position on a smaller two watch vessel working within a limited trading area.

2nd Engineers (Unlimited)

We are looking for both experienced and recently qualified 2nd Engineer Unlimited. Candidates with a UK CoC/CeC who wish to progress their careers further to Chief Engineer. Both of the above positions offer the possibility of paid study leave for higher certificates to selected candidates following a qualifying period of sea service.

In addition to salary we offer:

• 3 week on/off work leave rotation.

• Company Pension Scheme/MNOPF for existing active members.

• Company performance related bonus scheme.

Interested candidates should enquire in the first instance to Katie Staff at [email protected]

For a full list of career opportunities visit us at vikingrecruitment.com or give us a call.

Viking: Going to hidden depths to uncover the best industry talent, since 1988.

Jobs available:

• Qualified Deck, Engine & Technical Officers

• Front of House hotel positions, including Restaurant and Bar Waiters

• Housekeeping Stewardess

• Chefs of all levels

• Officer Trainees (Cadets)

www.vikingrecruitment.com +44 (0)300 303 [email protected]

RYAN OFFSHORE LTD RYAN SHIP MANAGEMENT LTD

SHIPPING CONNECTIONS

CONTACT DETAILS T E L: +44 (0) 1 9 1 5 4 8 8 8 5 9 FAX: +44 (0) 1 9 1 5 4 88 425

EMAIL: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] WEBSITE: www.ryan-shipmanagement.co.uk , www.shipping-connections.com, www.ryanoffshore.net

RYANSHIP, P.O.BOX–1282, SUNDERLAND, SR5 9HX, UNITED KINGDOM

MARITIME RECRUITMENT DP3/ DP2- DSV/ DP- AHTS/ DP- PSV/ DP3 PIPELAYER/DP2 CLV

MASTERs, CHOFF-SDPOs, 1ST OFF-DPO, 2ND OFF–DPOs, CHENGs, 2ND ENGs, 3rd ENG, ETOs, CRANE OPTRs

4-PT MOORING DSV / AHTS/ PSV MASTERS,CHOFF, 2ND OFF, CHENG, 2ND ENG,DP ENG, ETO

JACK UP BARGE / RIG - OIM, CH/ENG, 2NDENG, ETO, SAFETY OFF

SHORE BASED FOR OFFSHORE FLEET OPERATION MANAGER, ENGINEERING MANAGER, TECH

MANAGER, MARINE SUPT, TECH SUPT, PORT CAPTAIN, PORT ENG, HSE MANAGER, QHSE, COMPETENCE ASSESSOR/TRAINER

We are currently looking for the following STCW95/OPITO trained personnel to join the

Atlantic Offshore Rescue Ltd ERRV Fleet:

Masters Chief Of cers 2nd Of cers

Chief Engineers 2nd Engineers

3rd Engineers Engine Room Ratings

Deck Ratings Cook

Applications should be sent to:Ocean Supply (Guernsey) Ltdc/o Atlantic Offshore Crewing Services Ltd, Merchants House, 87 Waterloo Quay, Aberdeen AB11 5DE Attn: Keith Kendall

ANGLIAN MARINE

RECRUITMENT LTD Marine Placement Agency

Ongoing vacancies for all offi cers and ratings deep sea, coastal, st.by,

supply, ahts, etc. To register send cv and copies of all

certifi cates to: 6 Birch Court, Sprowston,

Norwich NR7 8LJ Tel/Fax: 01603 478938

Email: [email protected] www.anglianmarine.co.uk

Contact Paul Wade on 020 7880 6212 or email

[email protected] to find out how advertising in the Telegraph can work

for you.

38-45_rec.indd 43 23/09/2014 12:00


APPOINTMENTS

Arklow Shipping We operate a dry cargo eet of 45 modern, purpose built vessels from 4,500dwt

to 35,000dwt. Due to continued expansion we have a vacancy for the following:-

Assistant Marine Superintendent (Nautical) This position, based in Arklow, Ireland, will require a person who is keen to advance and develop their skills further in the marine sector.

The successful candidate will be responsible for the ef cient operation, management and safety of vessels under their control.

Master (Unlimited) certi cate of competency is advantageous.

Applicants must be uent in the English language and have knowledge of the IMO Conventions.

Previous experience as Superintendent is not essential.

Please send detailed cv to:- Personnel Department, Arklow Shipping,

North Quay, Arklow, Co. Wicklow, Ireland Email: [email protected]

CV Professionals

Maritime & o shore specialists

www.cvprofessionals.co.uk

Technical Adviser – Marine

IMCA, the international trade association committed to improving performance in the marine contracting industry, is seeking a Technical Adviser to join its specialist team based in London.

The role will focus on assisting IMCA’s Technical Director in delivering the Association’s work programme, especially that of the Marine Committee.

Applicants must possess appropriate technical qualifications, preferably with seagoing experience, and have significant experience of shipping and international offshore construction – technology, operations, projects and companies and knowledge of dynamic positioning (DP) systems.

The role will be to provide input on marine, DP, technical, competence and training issues as well as supporting IMCA’s work at the IMO.

Based at IMCA’s London office, the role will also involve international and national travel to meetings and events.

IMCA offers a competitive salary, private medical, income protection and generous pension.

See the full job specification and apply online at: www.imca-int.com/vacancies

+44 (0)1224 352000 www.c-mar.com

VACANCIES FOR EXPERIENCED OFFSHORE PERSONNEL

Our client is currently recruiting the positions below for a new-build vessel nearing completion. This Dive Support Vessel will be working in Research / Survey operations.

Any successful candidates should anticipate joining the vessel mid-October. Our client also requires a relief crew to commence employment mid-November. The vessel normally operates a 30 day rotation.

All candidates must have demonstrable experience with DSV and Survey vessels.

MASTER

CHIEF OFFICER

SECOND OFFICER

THIRD OFFICER

Please submit applications quoting the appropriate reference number, including a full career history to: [email protected] or in writing to:

C-MAR Group Marine Manpower Division 14 Regent Quay, Aberdeen AB11 5AE

Location: International | Competitive remuneration package

Other courses: BTMT, GMDSS, NAEST, BRM, PST, PSSR, LICOS, Advanced Ship Handling, Tanker Fam, Specialised Gas, Specialised Chemical, Freefall Lifeboat. For further Marine enquiries please contact Alison Bryce (as above).

STCW, MCA & SPECIALISED MARINE SHORT COURSESECDIS: 27/10/14, 10/11/14, 15/12/14, 02/02/15HELM Management: 20/10/14, 10/11/14, 24/11/14, 01/12/14, 15/12/14Specialised Oil Tanker: 13/10/14, 17/11/14, 12/01/15, 23/02/15Shipboard Security Officer: 27/10/14, 15/12/14, 16/02/15Safety Officer: 15/12/14, 02/03/15

Designated Security Duties: 06/10/14, 10/11/14, 26/01/15Proficiency in Security Awareness: 07/10/14, 11/11/14, 27/01/15CPSCRB: 20/10/14, 27/10/14, 03/11/14, 10/11/14EDH: 24/11/14, 08/12/14, 23/02/15

Contact: Alison Bryce 0141 565 2700 - [email protected]

DECK COURSES START DATESClass 1 Orals Preparation Course 03/11/14 & 02/02/15Chief Mate Full Reg II/1 05/01/15 Chief Mate Post HND 19/01/15OOW Post HND 29/09/14, 19/01/15 & 30/03/15Contact: [email protected]

MERCHANT NAVY OFFICER TRAINING COURSES

City of Glasgow College SC036198

ENGINEERING COURSES START DATESChief and Second Engineer (III/2) Motor EK Prep Course: 12/01/15, 05/05/15Contact: [email protected]

EOOW (III/1) & IAMI Prep Course: 03/11/14, 09/02/15Contact: [email protected]

For other Engineering enquiries please contact: Caroline Alderdice 0141 271 6545/6548 [email protected]

Based in Glasgow city centre, the college has a long standing reputation as one of the UK’s leading providers of nautical courses.

www.cityofglasgowcollege.ac.uk

NOT A MEMBER OF NAUTILUS INTERNATIONAL?

Join now on our website Fill out the online application at:

www.nautilusint.org

38-45_rec.indd 44 23/09/2014 12:00

APPOINTMENTS


Barge MasterBarge Operator

Maersk Oil is an international oil and gas company and part of the global conglomerate, Maersk Group. We have strong financial backing from the Group, which allows us to pursue our vision for long term growth in the UK.

We’re investing substantially in ambitious plans for the future, and with a dynamic portfolio of projects we can offer unique development opportunities and exciting challenges. We’re recruiting for positions on the Gryphon FPSO, a newly refurbished production vessel situated 175 miles north east of Aberdeen.

Barge Master

Reporting to the OIM, the Barge Master is responsible for all marine aspects of the asset. �e successful candidate will ensure the safe transfer of Crude Oil to shuttle tankers whilst also ensuring that the vessel structure, stabili� and watertight integri� is maintained and operated in a way that protects the reliabili�, integri� and compliance of the vessel and reinforces the Maersk values.

Barge Operator

�e Barge Operator, under the direction of the Barge Master, has the primary role of watch keeping in the CCR, ensuring that vessel station is maintained and controlled and the integri� of all vessel systems are operated in a safe and efficient manner. �is is done in accordance with legislative requirements, company health, safe�, environmental, integri� and other relevant standards, and the Maersk values.

For more information and to apply, visit our website: www.maerskoil.com/career or email your CV to [email protected].

No agencies please.

38-45_rec.indd 45 23/09/2014 12:01

SHIP TO SHORE


Quiz answers1. There are 760 cruiseships in service in the world fl eet at present.2. The average gross tonnage of ships in the world cruise fl eet is 31,450gt.3. A total of six cruiseships in the current world fl eet are of 150,000gt and above.4. Italy has the EU’s busiest cabotage trades, totalling 83.23m tonnes.5. Dover is the EU’s busiest passenger port, with a total of more than 12m a year.6. Germany’s share of global shipbuilding orders presently amounts to 0.7%.

Crossword answersQuick AnswersAcross: 1. Humidify; 5. Toecap; 9. Water polo; 11. Enter; 12. Dictatorship; 15. Dank; 16. Incomplete; 18. Animadvert; 19. Inca; 21. Illegitimate; 24. Taboo; 25. Reticence; 26. Clever; 27 Crossbar.

Down: 1. Howl; 2. Mate; 3. Derail; 4. Floating voter; 6. Overripe; 7. Catchpenny; 8. Peripheral; 10. Outboard motor; 13. Idealistic; 14. Inviolable; 17. Mangrove; 20. Stocks; 22. Snub; 23. Dear.

This month’s cryptic crossword is a prize competition, and the answers will appear in next month’s Telegraph. Congratulations to Nautilus member Bill Jamieson, who has won the prize draw for the September cryptic crossword.

Cryptic answers from SeptemberAcross: 8. Hastings; 9. Nelson; 10. Four; 11. Volleyball; 12. Pascal; 14. Tickseed; 15. Cyanide; 17. Impinge; 20. Carriage; 22. Age-old; 23. Touchpaper; 24. Arty; 25. Rigour; 26. Karenina.

Down: 1. Mahogany; 2. Star; 3. Snivel; 4. Isolate; 5. Intercom; 6. Plebiscite; 7. Collie; 13. Contractor; 16. Diaspora; 18. Gelatine; 19. Bespoke; 21. Adonis; 22. Aurora; 24. Anna.

M-Notices, Marine Information Notes and Marine Guidance Notes issued by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency recently include:

MGN 478 (M) — Maritime Labour Convention, 2006: WagesThis note provides information on changes to the payment of seafarers’ wages introduced by the MLC Minimum Requirements Regulations and the MLC Consequential Amendment Regulations. Full details are given in MGN 478, but the primary changes to UK shipping law are as follows:

zall seafarers are to be paid for their work regularly; at not greater than monthly intervals; and in full in accordance with their Seafarer Employment Agreement

zinterest of 20% per annum is payable to a seafarer in the event that a shipowner, without reasonable cause, fails to make payment of that seafarer’s wages on the due date

zall seafarers are to be given a monthly account of the payments due to them showing amounts paid, including wages, additional payments and the rate of exchange used where payment has been made in a currency or at a rate diff erent from the one agreed to

zall shipowners are to provide seafarers with a means to transmit all or part of their earnings to their families or dependants or legal benefi ciaries. The charges for this service are to be reasonable in amount and to be at the prevailing market rate or the offi cial published rate which is not unfavourable to the seafarer

This legislation amends provisions of the Merchant Shipping (Seamen’s Allotments) Regulations 1972 (SI 1972/1698) and the Merchant Shipping (Seamen’s Wages and Accounts) Regulations 1972 (SI 1972/1700) (as amended). Vessels not subject to the MLC Minimum Requirements Regulations will remain subject to the provisions of the earlier Regulations.

MGN 479 (M) — Maritime Labour Convention, 2006: RepatriationThis note provides information on the circumstances under which shipowners are required to repatriate seafarers under the Merchant Shipping (Maritime Labour Convention) (Minimum Requirements for Seafarers etc) Regulations 2014, and the provisions that must be made, including a seafarer’s relief and maintenance while awaiting and during repatriation.

Shipowners must make provision for the repatriation of a seafarer (whether they are an employee or

not) as soon as is practicable and at no cost to the seafarer in the following circumstances:

zwhere the Seafarer Employment Agreement (SEA) expires

zwhen the SEA is terminated by the shipowner

zwhen the SEA is terminated by the seafarer in accordance with the terms of their SEA

zwhen the seafarer is no longer able to carry out their duties under their SEA, or cannot be expected to carry them out in the specifi c circumstances (explained in MGN 479)

Extensive further details on the new repatriation rules are given in MGN 479, covering: place of return; mode of transport, duty pending repatriation; prohibition on recovering costs from seafarer; recovery of costs of repatriation from a third party; seafarer property; duty to carry documents; fi nancial security requirement; secretary of state functions in the event of shipowner default; young seafarers.

MGN 480 (M) — Maritime Labour Convention, 2006: Shipowners’ liabilities including seafarer compensationThis note outlines the main changes in shipowner liability following the implementation of the MLC, in connection with:

zthe loss or foundering of the ship

zfi nancial security to assure compensation in the event of death or long-term disability of a seafarer due to occupational injury

zliability for burial/cremation costsThe MLC Minimum Requirements

Regulations impose liability on the shipowner to compensate a seafarer for injury, loss or unemployment resulting from the loss or foundering of a ship. For ships and seafarers covered by the MLC, this replaces section 38 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995.

The shipowner will normally be liable to pay wages for up to two months following the date of the loss or foundering of the ship, and is liable to pay compensation regarding the loss of possessions and injury. The maximum amount for this compensation must be specifi ed in the Seafarer’s Employment Agreement (SEA).

The shipowner must provide a contract of insurance or other security adequate to ensure that they will be able to meet any liabilities they may have under UK law or under SEAs to provide compensation in the event of death or long term disability to seafarers arising from occupational injury, illness or hazard.

The shipowner must pay basic wages to incapacitated seafarers

whilst onboard or put ashore, up to the time they recover, or if/when repatriated, 16 weeks have elapsed since the date of the injury or commencement of sickness. After repatriation, the shipowner’s liability is only to meet the diff erence between state benefi ts paid and the level of basic wages.

The shipowner must meet any expenses reasonably incurred in the cost of burial or cremation of a deceased seafarer, wherever this takes place, except:a) if the seafarer dies ashore in their country of residence; orb) to the extent the expenses are met by a public authority

The shipowner must ensure the seafarer is provided with medical care onboard, so far as is practicable, and meet the cost of surgical, medical, dental and optical treatment, while the seafarer is employed or onboard, as well as board and lodging away from home when not onboard the ship, up to the time the seafarer has recovered, been repatriated or the incapacity has been declared of a permanent nature. This obligation is limited to 16 weeks from the date of sickness or injury occurring.

MIN 479 (M) — Maritime Labour Convention, 2006: Food and catering; recognised courses for ships’ cooks for food hygiene or food safety in cateringUnder the MLC Minimum Requirements Regulations, all ships’ cooks, catering staff and other persons processing food in the galley are required to be suitably qualifi ed in food hygiene or food safety in catering.

Shipowners of all seagoing UK vessels must ensure that these crew members receive the proper training in accordance with the learning outcomes and assessment criteria set out in Annex 1 of MSN 1846 (M). The food hygiene/safety qualifi cations and awarding bodies recognised by the MCA are listed in MIN 479.

zM-Notices are available as electronic documents or as a set of bound volumes.

zA consolidated set of M-Notices is published by The Stationery Offi ce. This contains all M-Notices current on 31 July 2009 (ISBN 9780115530555) and costs £210 — www.tsoshop.co.uk

zIndividual copies can be electronically subscribed to by emailing a request to [email protected] or downloaded from the MCA website. Go to www.gov.uk/mca and click on Find marine (M) notices.

M-Notices

Quiz and crossword answers ACDB

g Professional & Technical ForumTuesday 2 December 2014at 1300hrs for 1330hrsat the Royal Cinque Ports Yacht Club4-5 Waterloo CrescentDover CT16 1LA.The Forum deals with a wide range of technical, safety, welfare and other professional topics of relevance to all members, including training and certifi cation. The meeting is open to all members (UK, NL & CH).Contact Sue Willis:+44 (0)20 8989 [email protected]

g Women’s ForumSaturday 7 March 20151100hrs to 1400hrsin Southampton (TBC).The Forum provides guidance to Nautilus Council on the challenges facing women in the industry and encourages female participation in Union activity.Open to all female members.

Contact Lisa Carr:+44 (0)20 8989 [email protected]

g Young Maritime Professionals ForumSaturday 21 March 20151600 to 1800hrsin Southampton (TBC).The Forum provides guidance to Nautilus Council on the challenges facing young people in the shipping industry and on the issues that matter to them.Open to all young members (UK & NL).Contact Paul Schroder:+44 (0)20 8989 [email protected]

Member meetings and seminarsNautilus International organises regular meetings, forums and seminars for members to discuss pensions, technical matters, maritime policies and legal issues. Coming up in the next few months are:

College contactsInduction visitsSee www.nautilusint.org/news-and-events for dates of upcoming college visits by the Nautilusrecruitment team (scroll down to ‘latest events’).

For further information, email [email protected] or call Garry Elliott on +44 (0)151 639 8454.

Industrial support for cadetsAn industrial offi cial is appointed to each of the main nautical colleges. In addition the industrial depart-ment is responsible for representing

trainee offi cers in line with all members that we represent;please contact the Union on+44 (0)20 8989 6677. Your enquiry will then be directed to the relevant industrial organiser for youremployer/sponsoring company.The Union also facilitates a YoungMaritime Professionals Forum toprovide an opportunity for young members to engage in discussions on the specifi c challenges facing young workers in the maritimeprofession.For further information members/ trainee offi cers should contact Paul Schroder at [email protected].

Contact Nautilus International Nautilus International welcomes contact from members at any time. Please send a message to one of our department email addresses (see page 17) or get in touch with us at one of our offi ces around the world.

For urgent matters, we can also arrange to visit your ship in a UK port. Please give us your vessel’s ETA and as much information as possible about the issue that needs addressing.

Maritime & Coastguard Agency+44 (0)23 8032 9100www.gov.uk/mcaImplements the UK government’s maritime safety policy and works to prevent the loss of life on the coast and at sea.

Inspectie Leefomgeving en Transport+ 31 88 489 00 00www.ilent.nlDutch maritime authority (separate from Dutch coastguard).

Swiss Maritime Navigation Offi ce+41 (0)61 270 91 20www.smno.chSwiss maritime authority.

International Transport Workers’ Federation +44 (0)20 7403 2733www.itfglobal.orgA federation of over 700 unions representing over 4.5 million transport workers from 150 countries.

Merchant Navy Training Boardwww.mntb.org.ukUK organisation promotingmaritime education and training,and providing careers guidance. Administers the Careers at Sea Ambassadors scheme, underwhich serving seafarers canvolunteer to give careers talks inUK schools.

Merchant Navy Welfare Boardwww.mnwb.orgUmbrella body for the UK maritime charity sector, promoting cooperation between organisations that provide welfare services to merchant seafarers and their dependants within the UK.

Seafarers UK (formerly the King George’s Fund for Sailors)+44 (0)20 7932 0000www.seafarers-uk.orgSupports and promotes UK charities helping seafarers from the Merchant Navy, Royal Navy and fi shing fl eets. Often organises places for maritime fundraisers to enter marathons and other charity challenges.

International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network +44 (0)300 012 4279www.seafarerswelfare.orgGlobal organisation providing a24 hour, year-round multi-lingual helpline for all seafarers’ welfare and support needs, as well as an emergency welfare fund.

SAIL (Seafarers’ Information and Advice Line)08457 413 318+44 (0)20 8269 0921www.sailine.org.ukUK-based citizens’ advice service helping seafarers and their families with issues such as debt, benefi t

entitlements, housing, pensionsand relationships.

Seamen’s Hospital Society+44 (0)20 8858 3696www.seahospital.ukUK charity dedicated to thehealth and welfare of seafarers. Includes the Dreadnought health service.

Seafarers’ Link+44 (0)20 7643 1385www.csv-rsvp.orgTelephone friendship project connecting retired UK seafarers at home through a fortnightlytelephone conference service.

Seatax Ltd+44 (0)1302 364673www.seatax.ltd.ukCompany providing specialist tax advice for merchant seafarers.

Marine Society+44 (0)20 7654 7050www.marine-society.orgUK charity dedicated to thelearning and professional development of seafarers.Off ers 120,000 books to ships through its library service, plus distance-learning programmesand scholarship schemes including the Nautilus-administered Slater Fund.

Useful organisations To suggest an organisation which could appear here, email [email protected]

UK Head offi ceNautilus International1&2 The Shrubberies, George LaneSouth Woodford, London E18 1BDTel: +44 (0)20 8989 6677Fax: +44 (0)20 8530 [email protected]

Northern offi ceNautilus InternationalNautilus House, Mariners’ ParkWallasey CH45 7PHTel: +44 (0)151 639 8454Fax: +44 (0)151 346 [email protected]

Off shore sector contact pointMembers working for companies based in the east of Scotland or UK off shore oil and gas sector can call: +44 (0)1224 638882

THE NETHERLANDS Postal AddressNautilus InternationalPostbus 85753009 An RotterdamPhysical AddressNautilus InternationalSchorpioenstraat 2663067 KW RotterdamTel: +31 (0)10 477 1188 Fax: +31 (0)10 477 [email protected]

SWITZERLANDGewerkschaftshaus, Rebgasse 14005 Basel, SwitzerlandTel: +41 (0)61 262 24 24Fax: +41 (0)61 262 24 [email protected]

SINGAPORENautilus International10a Braddell Hill #05-03Singapore, 579720Tel: +65 (0)625 61933Mobile: +65 (0)973 [email protected]

FRANCEYacht sector offi ce in partnership with D&B Services3 Bd. d’Aguillon06600 Antibes, FranceTel: +33 (0)962 616 [email protected]

SPAINYacht sector offi ce in partnership with dovastonC/Joan de Saridakis 2, Edifi cion GoyaLocal 1A, Marivent07015 Palma de Mallorca, SpainTel: +34 971 677 [email protected]

46-47_info+join.indd 4646-47_info+join.indd 46 24/09/2014 17:3624/09/2014 17:36

JOIN NAUTILUS


Pay and conditionsNautilus International is the fi rst truly trans-boundary trade union for maritime professionals, refl ecting the global nature of the industry. We negotiate with employers on issues including pay, working conditions, working hours and pensions to secure agreements which recognise members’ skills and experience, and the need for safety for the maritime sector.

Legal servicesNautilus Legal offers members a range of legal services free of charge. There are specialist lawyers to support members in work related issues and a number of non-work related issues. The Union also has a network of lawyers in 54 countries to provide support where members need it most.

Workplace support Nautilus International offi cials provide expert advice on work-related problems such as contracts, redundancy, bullying or discrimination, non-payment of wages, and pensions.

Certifi cate protectionMembers are entitled to free fi nancial protection, worth up to £116,900, against the loss

of income if their certifi cate of competency is cancelled, suspended or downgraded following a formal inquiry.

Extra savingsMembers can take advantage of many additional discounts and benefi ts organised at a local level. These include tax advice, insurance discounts and advice on pension matters. In the Netherlands, discounts are organised through FNV, and trade union contributions are mostly tax-friendly, entitling members to receive a signifi cant part of their contributions back.

International representationNautilus International represents members’ views on a wide range of national and international bodies including the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF), the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and the International Federation of Shipmasters’ Associations (IFSMA). We work at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on key global regulations covering working conditions, health and safety and

training. The Union is affi liated to the TUC in the UK, FNV in the Netherlands and SGB/USS in Switzerland.

In touchAs a Nautilus International member, help is never far away — wherever in the world you are. Offi cials regularly see members onboard their ships and visit cadets at college. Further support and advice is available at regular ‘surgeries’ and conferences. The Union has offi ces in London, Wallasey, Rotterdam and Basel. There are also representatives based in France, Spain and Singapore.

Your union, your voiceThe Union represents the voice of more than 21,000 maritime professionals working in all sectors of the industry at sea and ashore — including inland navigation, large yachts, deepsea and offshore.

For members, by membersNautilus International is a dynamic and democratic trade union offering members many opportunities to become actively involved and have your say — at a local, national and international level.

Join today so we can be there for you too!

Wherever you are, so are we

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gFor the full range of member benefi ts visit www.nautilusint.org

OR gSpeak with our membership department on +44 (0)151 639 8454

gLouis Ramsden is vice chair of the Union’s Young Maritime Professionals Forum and

believes that membership of the Union is a vital to a seafarer as their Certifi cate of Competency.

‘I got into the industry as I used to go sailing on the Solent as a child,’ he said. ‘I lived a long way from the sea and really looked forward to that time. My captain was also in the Merchant Navy, and he advised me about the career options that there were at sea. He directed me towards the Careers at Sea scheme and I got a cadetship from there.’

Like many young maritime professionals, Louis didn’t sail with a British crew at all during his cadetship, but he says that added to his skillset.

‘It’s great to meet people from diff erent cultures and people with diff erent ways of doing

things,’ he explains. ‘Obviously work always has to be at a high standard but outside of that I have found it interesting to see how diff erent cultures and societies are structured.

‘I tended to fi nd that seafarers from European backgrounds are very similar in their style of management and the way they socialise. But with Filipino or Indian seafarers they come from a completely diff erent society and it’s interesting to compare.

‘I have experienced things that people who have stayed at home wouldn’t. I have learnt a completely new skill beyond the normal maritime knowledge.’

Louis joined the Union when a member of Nautilus staff visited his college. ‘They explained it really well and the protection of the Union seemed

really important. Receiving the Telegraph every month is an added bonus!

‘Some trade unions seem to be quite negative and have bad relationships with their companies, but Nautilus seems to have very good relationships and is recognised as a force for good,’ he adds.

‘They appreciate that everyone has their own priorities and can work with everyone to improve life at sea for everyone. Membership is as vital as a Certifi cate of Competency, and the fact that the Union protects that certifi cate makes it all fi t perfectly!’

Louis decided to become active in the Union when he called seeking some advice.

‘I never had to actually make a claim or anything but I was very impressed with the

response. I felt the need then to get more involved so I attended a meeting of the Young Maritime Professionals Forum.’

At that fi rst meeting Louis was elected to be vice chair, but admits he didn’t think he would be getting quite that involved so quickly.

‘I am quite proactive and when the opportunity arose I thought I should seize it. I think young people need a strong voice in the industry and the Forum provides a great place to go to for help and advice from people who are in a similar situation or have been there very recently.’

The next Young Maritime Professionals Forum is planned to take place on Saturday 21 March in Southampton, but young members can join in on LinkedIn anytime. Contact [email protected] for more information.

The face of NautilusLouis Ramsden, vice chair of the YMP Forum

46-47_info+join.indd 47 24/09/2014 17:36


NEWS

PNautilus has echoed UK Marine Accident Inves-tigation Branch (MAIB)

concerns about the quality of training in the use of electronic navigation systems.

MAIB chief inspector Steve Clinch raised the warning last month in the introduction to a report on the grounding of the Maltese-fl agged chemical tanker Ovit in the Dover Strait last September.

Investigators found that the ship’s passage was poorly planned and the situational awareness of the offi cer of the watch was so bad that it took him 19 minutes to real-ise that the 10,307dwt vessel was aground on the Varne Bank.

Mr Clinch said the case was the third grounding in which the MAIB had found failure to use ECDIS properly to be a key causal factor.

‘Unfortunately, the current generation of ECDIS systems, though certifi ed as complying with regulatory requirements, can be operated at a very low level of functionality and with key safety features disabled or cir-cumvented,’ he pointed out.

‘Training and company cul-ture may mitigate these short-comings to some extent, but can only go so far. While systems allow individuals to operate them in a sub-standard manner, there

are those who will do so: such is human nature,’ he added.

Mr Clinch said he hoped the next generation of ECDIS equip-ment will incorporate features to prevent such abuses and to ensure a better level of safe navi-gation.

Ovit was sailing from Rotter-dam to Italy with a cargo of vege-table oil at the time of the accident and was aground for almost three

hours until refl oating on the tide.The MAIB said the route —

which passed directly over the bank — had been planned by an inexperienced and unsupervised junior offi cer and was not checked by the master before departure, or by the offi cer of the watch at the start of his watch. Navigational marks on the bank were seen but not acted upon and the system’s audible alarm did not work.

Although ECDIS training had been provided to the Ovit’s Turk-ish master and offi cers, the MAIB said they were not able to use the system properly and were unaware of the importance of critical safety settings and the signifi cance of alarms. At the time of the grounding the scale on the system was ‘totally inappropriate’ for the area, the OOW appeared unconcerned that the display

was showing ‘jail bars’ and he was using the system solely to moni-tor the ship’s position relative to the intended track.

The master’s decision to remain in his cabin when called by the chief offi cer after the ground-ing demonstrated ‘an astounding level of complacency’, the report adds.

The report expresses concern that a SIRE inspection 10 days before the accident had not iden-tifi ed the crew’s lack of ECDIS com-petence.

‘As ECDIS is replacing paper charts as the primary means of navigation on many vessels, it is imperative that auditors and inspectors are able to identify problems in the way ECDIS are managed, maintained and used,’ it adds.

Recommendations include a call for the MAIB to submit pro-posals to the IMO for annual per-formance checks on ECDIS equip-ment and for Malta and the UK to seek a concentrated port state control inspection campaign to check the standards of system knowledge among navigators.

Nautilus senior national sec-retary Allan Graveson backed the MAIB’s warnings and added: ‘This demonstrates the need for inte-grated quality training. Regretta-bly, there are sectors of the indus-try that do not accept this.’

MAIB probe reveals training shortfallsChemical tanker’s offi cer took 19 minutes to realise he had run aground in the Dover Strait

Training courses for the maritime and offshore industriesMerchant Navy Operations (Deck)Certificate of CompetencyOfficer of the Watch (Unlimited) Jan, May & Sept intakesChief Mate/Masters (Unlimited) Jan & Sep intakesMaster Mariner (Unlimited) Orals Prep Mar & Oct intakesMaster Mariner (200Gt) Orals Prep (2 weeks)

STCWSafety5 day STCW Basic Safety TrainingPersonal Survival TechniquesPersonal Safety & Social ResponsibilitiesElementary First AidFire Prevention & Fire FightingAdvanced Fire FightingEfficient Deck HandMan Over Board / Rib Capsize DrillsIMDG awareness

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NavigationNAEST (O) & (M)ECDIS generic and type specificBridge Team ManagementPre ARPA and ARPASVNR

TankerTanker FamiliarisationSpecialist Tanker Training (Oil)

Dynamic PositioningDP InductionDP SimulatorDP Introduction

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Offshore Wind5 day Wind Energy Safety TrainingWorking at Height & Rescue (RUK)Advanced RescueClimbing AwarenessMarine TransferConfined Space Entry & Rescue

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Lowestoft College, St Peters Street, Lowestoft,Suffolk NR32 2NB United Kingdom

Tel: 00 44 1502 525025Email: [email protected]: www.lowestoft.ac.uk/maritime.asp

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FNautilus has expressed concern at a warning from the UK

Hydrographic Offi ce (UKHO) that less than half the global tanker fl eet has been fi tted with ECDIS equipment with under a year to go to the mandatory carriage deadline.

The SOLAS requirements are set to come into force on 1 July 2015 for all tankers over 3,000gt, with some limited permitted exceptions. UKHO says more than 8,500 tankers will be required to comply — yet its research reveals that so far 58% of these vessels do not yet use an ENC service.

Although the SOLAS rules were adopted in 2009, UKHO said it appears that almost 5,000 tankers may not have the equipment installed.

The UKHO data demonstrates signifi cant diff erences in ENC use between diff erent tanker sizes and types. Overall, 23% of the global product tanker fl eet of approximately 1,700 vessels is already using an ENC service, compared with 44% of crude tankers and 63% of LNG tankers.

The organisation warns that tanker owners and operators not only need to install the equipment but also put plans in place to for the eff ective introduction and use of the system. ‘Whether it is the physical installation of ECDIS onboard, the delivery of type-specifi c training for crew or the necessary revisions to bridge policies and procedures, it is a considerable undertaking,’ it stressed.

Captain Paul Hailwood, who has been delivering UKHO seminars on ECDIS around the world, warned of the ‘wider implications of the industry to deliver a transition to ECDIS on this scale in such a short period of time, given the inevitable constraints on capacity, such as crew training places and the availability of engineers to manage the installation process’.

Nautilus senior national secretary Allan Graveson said the UKHO fi gures were disturbing. ‘This is to be expected in an industry that may be considered a slow adopter of new technology and where only a minority take the issue of crew training seriously,’ he added.

Worries as tankers go slow on ECDIS fi ts

FFresh concerns over the Maritime & Coastguard Agency’s staffi ng and resources

have been raised by Nautilus after the MAIB report on the Ovit grounding revealed that the Channel Navigation Information Service (CNIS) watch offi cer on duty at the time was unqualifi ed and unsupervised.

Investigators said they were disturbed to fi nd that ‘chronic manpower shortages within Dover Coastguard constantly resulted in watches being under-manned and/or augmented by members of other watches’.

They found evidence that duty watches at the centre were below the minimum manning levels required to maintain an effi cient service in the CNIS area of responsibility and concluded

that watch managers were ‘clearly placed under considerable and enduring pressure’.

As Ovit approached the Varne bank radar guard zone the CNIS operator was alerted by an audible alarm, but cancelled this because he/she was communicating with another vessel at the time. Because the alarm was cancelled by selecting ‘authorise’ rather than ‘acknowledge’, it did not reactivate when the tanker entered the guard zone.

The MAIB also found that the operator did not investigate the possibility that Ovit had grounded until 23 minutes after it had come to a halt. ‘Although it is evident that the operator was distracted at a crucial time, it is also apparent that the operator was not qualifi ed for the role

and was not supervised,’ the report notes. ‘In addition, there was no specifi c training in the alerting system, and the alerting procedure had not been formalised.

Better management of the watch rotation could have prevented the trainee operator being left unsupervised, it adds, and it was ‘inappropriate’ for the two fully-qualifi ed members of the watch to be absent from the operations room on a meal break at the same time.

In a letter to shipping minister John Hayes, Nautilus general secretary Mark Dickinson urged the government to ensure the MCA has the resources it needs to discharge its vital safety functions.

‘I believe it should be of extreme concern to you that the safety of vessel traffi c services in one of the world’s busiest waterways can be neglected in such a way,’ Mr Dickinson told the minister. ‘There would be an outcry if air traffi c control was under-resourced like this, and it should be equally unacceptable for maritime support services to fall below minimum standards.

‘The report makes it clear that the MCA had failed to make an eff ective response to warnings about minimum safe manning levels at Dover Coastguard,’ Mr Dickinson added, ‘and Nautilus believes that there is evidence to show that such problems are routinely experienced at MRCCs throughout the UK.’

Union protests over MCA cuts

The Maltese-fl agged tanker Ovit in port following last year’s grounding on the Varne Bank Picture: MAIB

48_news.indd 48 24/09/2014 16:40

nautilus telegraph october 2014

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